0:00
growth was particularly high in the
0:02
first three months of this year but
0:04
perhaps Britain's shouldn't get too
0:06
excited A 0.7% surge in UK GDP between
0:11
January and March this year has been
0:13
welcomed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves And
0:16
when you consider that quarterly growth
0:18
has been pretty stagnant over the last
0:20
two years only rising above 0.7% once
0:24
since 2023 then you can understand why
0:27
there may be some excitement within the
0:29
government She said the figures
0:31
represented the strength and potential
0:33
of the UK economy in the face of global
0:36
economic turmoil Data released by the
0:39
Office for National Statistics showed
0:40
that a 1.1% rise in production boosted
0:44
growth in the early part of this year
0:46
But economists at City of London giants
0:48
such as ING have questioned whether
0:51
Britain's should really read too much
0:53
into the new figures In fact Bank of
0:56
England rate setters raised the alarm
0:58
last week as they described headline
1:00
growth so far this year as erratic By
1:04
this they suggested that high output
1:05
levels in areas such as manufacturing
1:08
were perhaps a one-off The Bank of
1:10
England's monetary policy report even
1:13
suggested that underlying growth
1:15
otherwise actual growth seen across the
1:17
UK economy in a more permanent sense
1:19
that makes people wealthier and
1:21
businesses larger is actually closer to
1:25
0% When analysts at Capital Economics
1:28
looked at the data released by the UK's
1:30
official stats body on Thursday morning
1:33
they spotted that spending had increased
1:35
in areas such as aircraft and machinery
1:38
equipment These are part of the economy
1:40
which US President Donald Trump targeted
1:43
in sweeping tariffs in April Capital
1:46
Economics said it's probably the case
1:48
that businesses spent more to get ahead
1:51
of US tariffs imposed in the middle of
1:53
March and last month An investment
1:55
strategist at JP Morgan's digital wealth
1:58
manager arm Nutmeg even described the
2:01
relatively high growth figure could be
2:03
described as having been made in America
2:07
The investment adviser claimed that
2:08
firms were spending on what he called
2:10
inventory stocking UK made goods ahead
2:13
of tariffs coming into effect Of course
2:16
there is some hope that high growth
2:18
could persist in the coming months
2:20
Pension fund investment reforms an
2:22
industrial strategy that tackles high
2:24
energy costs and falling interest rates
2:27
may help to boost spending in the UK
2:29
economy Trade deals struck with the US
2:32
and India as well as those struck
2:34
between the US and China could lift
2:36
hopes of high growth continuing But the
2:38
IMF the Bank of England and the Office
2:41
for Budget Responsibility which assesses
2:43
the government's tax and spending
2:45
policies have all claimed that growth is
2:48
set to come in at around 1% this year
2:51
Changes to workers rights and the threat
2:53
of taxes being raised in the autumn
2:55
could undermine government rhetoric
2:58
claiming that further and faster growth
3:00
will be delivered So in the coming
3:03
months don't raise your hopes of more
3:05
good news on the UK economy Business
3:07
leaders have suggested the early boost
3:09
in GDP will only come once this year For
3:13
more news on the UK economy head over to
