Economy continues recovery- but Election stifles growth in June

The UK economy flatlined in June as the General Election put a hold on business spend, new GDP figures released this morning show.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy grew by 0.6% in the second quarter of the year, down from growth of 0.7% in Q1.

The ONS said: “In a range of industries across the economy, businesses stated that customers were delaying placing orders until the outcome of the election was known.”

Services (+0.8%) grew while production (-0.1%) and construction (-0.1%) both contracted.

Liz McKeown, director of economic services at the ONS, said: “The UK economy has now grown strongly for two quarters, following the weakness we saw in the second half of last year. Growth across the three months was led by the service sector, where scientific research, the IT industry and legal services all did well.

“In June growth was flat with services falling, due to a weak month for health, retailing and wholesaling, offset by widespread growth in manufacturing.”