Britain’s economy rebounded by a record 15.5 per cent between July and September, reflecting the relaxation of lockdown measures and increased consumer activity over the summer. This is the largest quarterly growth in the UK economy the Office for National Statistics has reported since records began in 1955. Services, manufacturing, production and construction saw big uplifts across the board in Q3, but all remain below their Q4 levels in 2019, reflecting that the economy as a whole has not recovered to its pre-Covid levels: it is still 8.2 per cent smaller than it was at the start of the year.
But with this good news comes a major caveat: while the economic bounce back in the summer months is impressive, the conditions under which it grew have changed dramatically in recent months. Worryingly, growth had already started to slow in August, when the economy was most open and policy was put in place to subsidise people to have meals out and stimulate the economy.
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