The UK economy showed strong growth in the first three months of the year, according to official figures.

Gross domestic product (GDP) – the standard measure of an economy’s value – grew 0.7% in the first quarter of 2025, the Office for National Statistics said.

The rise is better than expected. An increase of just 0.6% was anticipated by economists polled by the Reuters news agency.

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It’s significantly better than the three months previous, in which a slight economic expansion of just 0.1% was reported for the final quarter of 2024.

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The ONS also said there was a small amount of growth last month, as GDP expanded 0.2% in March, which similarly beat expectations.

No growth at all had been forecast for the month.

How did the economy grow?

A large contribution to high GDP growth was an increase in output in the production sector, which rose 1.1%, driven by manufacturing and a 4% increase in water supply, the ONS said.

Also working to push up the GDP figure was 0.7% growth in the biggest part of the UK economy – the services industry.

Wholesale, retail and computer programming services all performed well in the quarter, as did car leasing and advertising, the ONS said.

It shows the economy was resilient, as the country headed into the global trade war sparked by President Trump’s so-called ‘liberation day’ tariff announcement on 2 April.

Welcome political news, for now

The data is welcome news for a government who have identified growing the economy as its number one priority.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is taking the figures as a political win, saying the UK economy has grown faster than the US, Canada, France, Italy and Germany.

“Today’s growth figures show the strength and potential of the UK economy, ” she said.

“Up against a backdrop of global uncertainty, we are making the right choices now in the national interest.”

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Such GDP numbers may not continue into April as businesses and consumers were hit with a raft of bill rises, and Mr Trump’s tariffs fired the starting gun on a global trade war.

Last month, water, energy and council tax bills rose across the country while employers faced higher wage costs from the rise in their national insurance contributions and the minimum wage.

But above-inflation wage growth and fading consumer caution could continue to boost the economy.

A partnership of the country’s leading social care and end of life organisations has told Sky News of their deep frustration at being excluded from important discussions around the assisted dying debate – describing the proposed change to the law as “unworkable, unaffordable and naive”.

The Coalition of Frontline Care for People Nearing the End of Life is worried about the impact of introducing assisted dying will have on their three million-strong workforce, which they say is on the frontline for delivering care to terminally ill adults.

The partnership includes The Gold Standards Framework Charity (GSF), National Care Forum (NCF), British Geriatric Society (BGS), Care England (CE) and the Community Hospital Association.

It submitted evidence at the committee stage of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, but was not called to give evidence

Professor Martin Vernon, consultant geriatrician and spokesperson for ethics and law at the British Geriatric Society, told Sky News: “This is a huge problem for us.

“The majority of people this law will impact on are going to be older people with complex needs, and there has been virtually no engagement in the consultation process around this proposed legislation.”

Professor Vernon and his coalition colleagues are especially concerned about sick and vulnerable adults being pressured into making choices.

“We then may see, increasingly, older people with life-limiting diagnoses like dementia, like frailty, feeling the need to opt for assisted dying or indeed feeling coerced either by their circumstances or societally,” he added.

“This may place a heavy burden on some individuals to choose assisted dying when, actually, the creation of better alternatives – supportive care, and palliative care to enable them to have a dignified and comfortable last few years of life should be the way to go.”

Caroline Southgate, founder and managing director of home care company Doris Jones, told Sky News there was simply not enough information about the impact assisted dying would have on her staff.

“I think we are concerned that we don’t have enough clarity about how we would train staff, how we support people if they make that decision,” she said.

“At the moment, the way that the bill is presented doesn’t give us enough information to know how we would deal with those issues.

“If someone chooses this route, all I need to know is what’s my role, where are my boundaries?”

Mrs Southgate is also worried about her staff being accused of coercion. Because of the nature of their work, home carers build up a strong bond with the people they tend to, often seeing them multiple times a day.

And sometimes, they might be the only contact their service users have.

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“I think we’ve got lots and lots of experience of being in homes with people, dealing with families, who trust us to look after the person who needs care and support at home,” she added.

“I need to know that we would be insured and protected should a family decide that one of our staff was accused of coercing someone, or the other way around, talking someone out of a situation.

“We really need a lot more information to make that safe for us and to make sure that our staff are really well supported.”

Katy Betz works for Mrs Southgate. She is a trained nurse originally from Germany but has lived and worked as a carer in England for over twenty years.

Kate loves what she does, but echoes the same concerns expressed by her employer: Assisted dying could change the relationship she has with her service users.

Driving along Southend’s seafront, she explains there is little else she and her care colleagues talk about these days.

“It is important”, she says. “Even within my friendship group, everyone has got a different opinion, a strong opinion actually.

Katy says she needs more detail: “More training, safeguarding – what do we do? Where do we go? Who needs to be informed about the client’s decision?

“You are there to make their life, and their end of life, bearable and as good as possible. I can’t explain how I deal with it, but I think you just have to be born to deal with it.”

Katy is on her way to see John and Brenda Barber for one of their daily visits. Brenda is 85 and John is 90.

John took Brenda on their date to a jive dance in Southend.

He was twenty years old and had just returned from army service in Gibraltar. Brenda was just sixteen.

They have been inseparable ever since.

John’s arthritis makes every day tasks almost impossible, and he says if he did not have a carer like Katy, his life would be intolerable.

He says: “It’s becoming increasingly difficult with different parts of my body. My wife and I are together and that’s what we want. We would never want to be separated.”

There’s a pause while he reflects on that thought. “That’s despite the bickering,” he says before breaking into a mischievous laugh.

The bond that is shared between Katy, John and Brenda is clear to see. They are worried that this might change irreversibly if the assisted dying law is passed.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill returns to the House of Commons on Friday, where it will face greater scrutiny.

Earlier this week, two Royal Colleges, Physicians and Psychiatrists, withdrew support for the bill, saying it was “not fit for purpose”.

But campaigners in favour of assisted dying have told Sky News the bill includes more protections and safeguards for all dying people than any other jurisdiction where the choice is legal.

Sarah Wootton, chief executive for Dignity in Dying, said: “MPs voted by a clear majority to progress Kim Leadbeater’s Bill in November because they recognised that the blanket ban on assisted dying is failing dying people and their families.

“Every year, dying people are forced to endure unbearable pain, despite good care, travel overseas to die alone, or take matters into their own hands, often dying violent and lonely deaths without support.

“This Bill – already hailed as the strongest in the world – has been strengthened even further during committee stage, with amendments accepted to involve a range of skilled professionals in every application, specific training requirements around coercion, and that assisted dying can only be discussed within the context of all end of life options.”

Sir Keir Starmer is in Albania to announce an expanded crackdown on migrant smuggling gangs in the Balkans – a key staging post on the route to Britain.

In the first official visit to the country by a UK prime minister, he hopes to reinforce this week’s tough message about slashing levels of both legal and illegal migration.

Sir Keir is relying on “smashing the gangs” as the government’s policy to tackle small boat crossings, which remain at a record high this year; passing the 10,000 mark last month.

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But working with officials in Albania is seen as a success story in stopping migration at source, partly due to the actions of the previous Conservative government which Sir Keir will build on.

In 2022, arrivals from Albania accounted for around a third of all small boat arrivals – a higher number than from any other country.

Over the past three years, those numbers have been cut by 95%. The number of Albanians returned to their home country has also more than doubled to 5,294 last year, from just over 2,000 two years’ earlier.

The prime minister will join Edi Rama, prime minister of Albania since 2013, at the Port of Durres on Thursday to see UK-backed efforts to tackle smuggling gangs and the criminal activities that fund them.

A programme to detect migrants attempting to travel using fake or stolen documents will be expanded, with the UK donating new anti- forgery machines. The government will also invest a further £1m in DNA technology to detect serious criminals on the streets of the UK.

Sir Keir is also expected to express concerns about a “revolving door effect” in which a migrant is returned home, only to evade law enforcement and leave the country again. He will support programmes in northern Albania – where migrants come from – to reintegrate young people and provide them with employment opportunities, the government said.

The prime minister will announce that the joint migration taskforce, with Albania and Kosovo, signed at the end of 2022, will be expanded to include North Macedonia and Montenegro.

The National Crime Agency will share intelligence with law enforcement agencies in these countries and deploy UK funded drones to detect gangsters funnelling migrants through the Western Balkans corridor and on to the UK.

The countries of the Western Balkans – including Serbia, whose government signed an agreement with Sir Keir last year – have for around five years been the key corridor to Europe for migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

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Sir Keir will say: “Global challenges need shared solutions, and the work the UK and Albania are doing together is delivering security for working people in both countries.

“Our joint work to deter, detect and return illegal migrants is further proof that intervening upstream to protect British shores and secure our borders is the right approach.

“Every step we take to tackle illegal migration overseas, cripple the criminal networks that facilitate it and stem the finance streams that fund it is delivering safer streets in the UK, and reducing the strain on taxpayer funded services.”

On Friday the prime minister will attend the European Political Community summit in the capital Tirana, a forum for European leaders to discuss security challenges in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

It’s expected to be a chance for the UK to discuss key points of a forthcoming defence pact with the EU and the terms of a “reset” of relations ahead of a summit in London next Monday.