Economy grows by 0.6 per cent in first three months of the year, official figures show

By MARK DUELL, DEPUTY CHIEF REPORTER (DIGITAL) Published: 07:04, 14 May 2026 | Updated: 07:28, 14 May 2026 The UK economy has recorded the strongest quarterly growth in a year over the first three months of 2026 with a surprise spurt in activity after the Iran war began. Gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.6 per cent between January and March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said this morning. This was higher than the 0.5 per cent growth that most economists had been expecting, and marks the highest since the first quarter of 2025. The ONS also said GDP increased by 0.3 per cent in March, surprising economists who were expecting growth to slow following the onset of war in the Middle East. Real GDP is estimated to have increased by 0.6% in Quarter 1 2026 The implied price of GDP increased by 3.5% in Quarter 1 2026 compared with the same quarter a year ago Real GDP is estimated to have increased by an unrevised 1.4% in 2025 11 out of 14 services subsectors contributed positively to growth in Quarter 1 2026 8 out of 13 manufacturing subsectors contributed positively to growth in Quarter 1 2026 Growth in the latest quarter was driven by gross capital formation: other and household consumption Excluding non-monetary gold and other precious metals, the trade deficit was 0.9% of nominal GDP in Quarter 1 2026 Growth in nominal GDP was mainly driven by an increase in compensation of employees in Quarter 1 2026 Real GDP per head is estimated to have increased by 0.6% in Quarter 1 2026 ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: 'Growth picked up in the first quarter of the year, led by broad-based increases across the services sector. 'Within that wholesale, computer programming and advertising performed particularly well. 'Production also grew slightly, while construction returned to growth, though only partly reversing weakness at the end of last year.' Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: 'Today's figures show the Government has the right economic plan. The choices I have made as Chancellor mean our economy is in a stronger position as we deal with the costs of the war in Iran. 'Now is not the time to put our economic stability at risk. To do so would leave families and business worse off. Instead, this Government is getting on with the job of building an economy that is stronger, more resilient, and prepared for the future.' The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.