Sunak faces calls to do more to tackle UK slowdown – much to his frustration | Phillip Inman

Sunak faces calls to do more to tackle UK slowdown – much to his frustration | Phillip Inman

What is the chancellor going to do when figures charting Britain’s economic growth in February show the recovery from the pandemic was almost at a standstill before the invasion of Ukraine had started?

Shopping and eating out became popular again after the restrictions put in place to deal with the Omicron outbreak were eased. Bookings at arts and entertainment venues increased. And the banking, insurance, legal and accounting sectors experienced another month of solid expansion, no doubt allowing City firms to repeat in 2022 the stellar bonuses paid to staff last year.

However, manufacturing shrank and so too did the wider production sector as energy-hungry businesses cut back on their use of gas and electricity to leave GDP only 0.1% higher in February.