General Election 2024: UK economy flatlines in April, official figures show

Published

1 year ago

June 12, 2024

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The UK economy flatlined in April, according to official figures that have been seized on by the government’s critics as evidence the Conservatives’ heralded plan is not working.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there was zero growth in April compared to the 0.4% figure recorded during March.

A Reuters news agency poll of economists had predicted the 0% performance given earlier evidence that wet weather had knocked retail sales and construction output particularly hard.

The GDP (gross domestic product) report from the ONS – the last to be released ahead of the election – showed UK overall rainfall at 155% of the long-term average in April.

Construction output was found to have declined by 1.4% as a result, the number crunchers said, also aided by poor demand for construction products in the manufacturing sector.

Production was down by 0.9% while the services sector – accounting for almost 80% of UK total output – grew by just 0.2%.

Despite the emphasis on the hit from rain, the numbers still represent a setback for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s key election argument that the economy is improving after successive hits from the COVID pandemic followed by the cost of living crisis.

The UK exited a short-lived recession at the end of 2023 when growth of 0.6% was registered in the first quarter of the current year.

While economists continue to see growth in the three months to June, expectations are for growth of around 0.3% – half the rate achieved between January and March.

Ahead of polling day on 4 July, there will be a final set of inflation figures followed, the next day, by a Bank of England interest rate decision.

Financial markets and economists see little chance of a rate cut on 20 June, largely because wages are growing at a pace that risks stoking price growth further after significant progress in the battle against inflation.

The consumer prices index measure currently stands at 2.3% and is expected to ease further when the figures for May are released.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “There is more to do, but the economy is turning a corner and inflation is back down to normal.”

He added that the Conservatives would “keep the economy growing with our clear plan to cut taxes on work, homes and pensions”.

But shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said of the ONS data: “Rishi Sunak claims we have turned a corner, but the economy has stalled and there is no growth.

“These figures expose the damage done after 14 years of Conservative chaos.

“We are now in the third week of this general election campaign and in that time the Labour Party has set out its plan to grow the economy by bringing back stability, unlocking private sector investment and reforming our planning system.

“All the Conservatives are offering is more of the same, with a desperate wish list of unfunded spending promises that will mean £4,800 more on people’s mortgages. Rishi Sunak’s plan is a recipe for five more years of Tory chaos.”

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokeswoman Sarah Olney said the lack of growth in April showed the Tories had “utterly failed” to deliver on their promises.

“As Rishi Sunak’s time as prime minister peters out, so does the UK’s economic growth,” she said.

“The Conservatives have utterly failed to deliver the growth they repeatedly promised, instead presiding over stagnation and economic misery for hardworking families across the country.

“The Conservatives’ manifesto shows they simply lack the ambition and vision to get the economy moving again.

“It’s clear for voters across the country that the only way to make it happen is to vote them out of office on July 4.”

Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK, said of the outlook: “Forward-looking indicators point to renewed momentum in activity over the coming months, supported by an improvement in consumer sentiment as pay growth remains strong.

“The early summer general election could help resolve political uncertainties which could provide a boost for business investment.

“Nonetheless, whichever party wins the election will have to contend with a number of supply-side challenges which will constrain the UK’s long-term growth potential.

“We expect economic activity to remain sluggish in historical terms this year with growth at just 0.5%.”

UK

Home secretary admits illegal immigration numbers still ‘too high’ under Labour – but says Farage can ‘sod off’

Published

13 hours ago

November 17, 2025

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Home secretary admits illegal immigration numbers still 'too high' under Labour - but says Farage can 'sod off'

The home secretary has admitted the UK’s illegal immigrant numbers are “too high” – but said Nigel Farage can “sod off” after he claimed she sounded like a Reform supporter.

Shabana Mahmood, speaking just after announcing a major policy change on migration, said she was “horrified” by the 27% increase of irregular arrivals in the year to June.

Politics latest: Labour MPs attack asylum plans

Speaking to Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby, the home secretary said: “I acknowledge the numbers are too high, and they’ve gone up, and I want to bring them down.

“I’m impatient to bring those numbers down.”

She refused to “set arbitrary numbers” on how much she wanted to bring illegal migration down to.

Earlier on Monday, Ms Mahmood announced a new direction in Labour’s plan to crack down on asylum seekers.

The “restoring order and control” plan includes:

• The removal of more families with children – either voluntarily through cash incentives up to £3,000, or by force;
• Quadrupling the time successful asylum seekers must wait to claim permanent residency in the UK, from five years to 20;
• Removing the legal obligation to provide financial support to asylum seekers, so those with the right to work but choose not to will receive no support;
• Setting up a new appeals body to significantly speed up the time it takes to decide whether to refuse an asylum application;
• Reforming how the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is interpreted in immigration cases;
• Banning visas for countries refusing to accept deportees;
• And the establishment of new safe and legal refugee routes.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the plan was much like something his party would put forward, and said Ms Mahmood sounded like a Reform supporter.

The home secretary responded with her usual frankness, telling Rigby: “Nigel Farage can sod off. I’m not interested in anything he’s got to say.

“He’s making mischief. So I’m not going to let him live forever in my head.”

She earlier announced refugee status would be temporary, only lasting two and a half years before a review, and they would have to be in the UK for 20 years before getting permanent settled status, instead of the current five years.

Ms Mahmood said Reform wanted to “rip up” indefinite leave to remain altogether, which she called “immoral” and “deeply shameful”.

The home secretary, who is a practising Muslim, was born in Birmingham to her Pakistani parents.

Earlier, in the House of Commons, she said she sees the division that migration and the asylum system are creating across the country. She told MPs she regularly endures racial slurs.

UK

BBC ‘determined to fight’ any Trump legal action, chairman tells staff

Published

20 hours ago

November 17, 2025

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BBC 'determined to fight' any Trump legal action, chairman tells staff

BBC chair Samir Shah has said there is “no basis for a defamation case and we are determined to fight this” – after Donald Trump said he would sue the corporation for between $1bn and $5bn.

It comes after the US president confirmed on Saturday he would be taking legal action against the broadcaster over the editing of his speech on Panorama – despite an apology from the BBC.

In an email to staff, Mr Shah said: “There is a lot being written, said and speculated upon about the possibility of legal action, including potential costs or settlements.

“In all this we are, of course, acutely aware of the privilege of our funding and the need to protect our licence fee payers, the British public.

“I want to be very clear with you – our position has not changed. There is no basis for a defamation case and we are determined to fight this.”

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On Saturday, President Trump told reporters legal action would come in the following days.

“We’ll sue them. We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion (£792m) and five billion dollars (£3.79bn), probably sometime next week,” he said.

“We have to do it, they’ve even admitted that they cheated. Not that they couldn’t have not done that. They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”

The BBC on Thursday said the edit of Mr Trump’s speech on 6 January 2021 had given the “mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action”.

The broadcaster apologised and said the splicing of the speech was an “error of judgment” but refused to pay financial compensation after the US leader’s lawyers threatened to sue for one billion dollars in damages unless a retraction and apology were published.

The Panorama scandal prompted the resignations of two of the BBC’s most senior executives – director-general Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness.

The broadcaster has said it will not air the Panorama episode Trump: A Second Chance? again, and published a retraction on the show’s webpage on Thursday.

UK

Joseph James O’Connor ordered to pay back over £4m in Bitcoin after hacking celebrity X accounts

Published

20 hours ago

November 17, 2025

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Joseph James O'Connor ordered to pay back over £4m in Bitcoin after hacking celebrity X accounts

A British man who hacked the X accounts of celebrities in a bid to con people out of Bitcoin, has been ordered to repay £4.1m-worth of the cryptocurrency, prosecutors say.

Joseph James O’Connor, 26, was jailed in the United States for five years in 2023 after he pleaded guilty to charges including computer intrusion, wire fraud and extortion.

He was arrested in Spain in 2021 and extradited after the country’s high court ruled the US was best placed to prosecute because the evidence and victims were there.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Monday it had obtained a civil recovery order to seize 42 Bitcoin and other crypto assets linked to the scam, in which O’Connor used hijacked accounts to solicit digital currency and threaten celebrities.

The July 2020 hack compromised accounts of high-profile figures including former US presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

O’Connor and his co-conspirators stole more than $794,000 (£629,000) of cryptocurrency after using the hacked accounts to ask people to send $1,000 in Bitcoin to receive double back.

Prosecutor Adrian Foster said the civil recovery order showed that “even when someone is not convicted in the UK, we are still able to ensure they do not benefit from their criminality”.

The order, which valued O’Connor’s assets at around £4.1m, was made last week, following a freeze placed on the hacker’s property, which prosecutors secured during extradition proceedings.

A court-appointed trustee will liquidate his assets, the CPS said.

The attack also compromised the X (then Twitter) accounts of other high-profile figures including Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, investor Warren Buffett, and media personality and businesswoman Kim Kardashian.

The hack prompted the social media platform to temporarily freeze some accounts.

X said 130 accounts were targeted, with 45 used to send tweets.