Critics silenced as UK’s GDP surges past both France and Germany’s

After initial estimates put it at 0.1percent, Gross Domestic Product for the first three months of this year actually rose by 0.3 percent. The UK economy is now thought to have grown by 1.8 percent between the final quarter before the pandemic hit and the second quarter of this year. Britain has therefore stormed ahead and overtaken both Germany’s 0.2 percent and France’s 1.7 percent over that period. Celebrating the news, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said: ‘We know that the British economy recovered faster from the pandemic than anyone previously thought and data out today once again proves the doubters wrong. ‘Since 2020, we have grown faster than France and Germany. ‘The best way to continue this growth is to stick to our plan to halve inflation this year, with the International Monetary Fund forecasting that we will grow more than Germany, France and Italy in the longer term.’ It comes after a series of revised GDP estimates, which were far harder to make due to the effects of Covid and the energy crisis. Earlier this month, the Office for National Statistics said that it now believes that GDP returned to its pre-pandemic level by the last three months of 2021, much earlier than initially thought. Taken together, recent revisions mean that GDP is around 2 percent higher than it was thought to be previously. However, former Cabinet minister Dame Priti Patel has now pushed for Mr Hunt to cut taxes, pointing out that the burden is now at a 70-year high.