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| UK economy grows by 0.8% in first quarter | UK economy grows by 0.8% in first quarter |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The UK economy grew by 0.8% in the first quarter of 2014, according to the latest figures. | The UK economy grew by 0.8% in the first quarter of 2014, according to the latest figures. |
| It marks the fifth consecutive period of GDP growth - the longest positive run since the financial crisis. | |
| The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also said the economy is still 0.6% smaller than its 2008 peak. | |
| Chancellor George Osborne said Tuesday's figure showed that "Britain is coming back", but that the recovery could not be taken for granted. | |
| "The impact of the Great Recession is still being felt, but the foundations for a broad based recovery are now in place," he added. | |
| "The biggest risk to economic security would be abandoning the plan that is laying those foundations." | |
| Tuesday's growth figure - the ONS's first estimate for the quarter - is a slight increase on the 0.7% recorded for the final quarter of 2013, and a rise of 3.1% on the same period a year ago. | |
| But many had been expecting the latest figure to be even higher, at 0.9%. | |
| UK manufacturing output grew by 1.3%, the ONS said, its strongest quarter for nearly four years. | |
| And the service sector, which includes everything from hotels and leisure to accountants, grew by 0.9%. | |
| Construction output, which grew by 0.3%, was affected by the storms and high rainfall in January and February, the ONS said. | |
| But it added that the bad weather did not have a significant impact on overall GDP growth. | |
| Agriculture was the only one of the four main industrial sectors to register a fall in output, dropping by 0.7%. |