Blow for Sunak as revised figures confirm UK did go into recession last year

Latest estimate from ONS says GDP declined by 0.3% in final quarter of 2023

Official figures have confirmed the UK economy went into recession at the end of last year, after the latest estimate found it had contracted in the last two quarters of 2023.

In a blow to the government’s economic standing, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy, measured by gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 0.3% in the last three months of the year, unrevised from an earlier estimate.