London June 12 2025: Britain’s economy slowed sharply in April, reflecting shockwaves from U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of wide-ranging tariffs and a one-off hit from the end of a tax break on property sales, official data showed on Thursday.
Gross domestic output shrank by a larger-than-expected 0.3% in April from March – the biggest monthly drop since October 2023 and more than the 0.1% fall forecast in a Reuters poll, following 0.2% growth in March.
Finance minister Rachel Reeves said the GDP numbers were “clearly disappointing”.
Thursday’s data comes a day after she set out a multi-year spending review which divided up more than 2 trillion pounds of public spending between government departments.
Britain’s economy has grown slowly since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the fall in monthly GDP was led by a 0.4% contraction in output from the dominant services sector.
A big factor in this was a slump in real estate and legal activity in April after the end of a temporary tax break on house purchases, which contributed 0.2 percentage points of the overall 0.3 percentage point fall in output in April. Car makers also reported lower output and exports to both the United States and the European Union.
