UK economy beats expectation as it grows by 0.4% in May

Boost for new Labour government

The UK’s economy grew by 0.4% in May, following a month of no growth in April, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

Much of the growth was driven by a maintained uptick in services output, which grew by 0.3% in May, the same as in April. Markets welcome reduced political risk premium on UK assets after Labour win This broad trend was reflected widely in the ONS' report, which showed that real terms GDP increased by 0.9% in the three months to May 2024, compared with the three-month period to February 2024, a result of a growth of 1.1% in services output. The 0.9% figure marks the fastest growth since January 2022. Growth was "stronger than expected" in May, noted Quilter Investors' Lindsay Ja...