Stats chiefs admit: Duff economic data downplayed Britain’s pandemic bounceback

DUFF economic data wildly downplayed Britain’s pandemic bounceback, stats chiefs have admitted.

Revised figures show the economy actually grew in the final three months of 2021 — rather than shrinking as was reported at the time.

Duff economic data wildly downplayed Britain’s pandemic bounce back, stats chiefs admit

Experts said the narrative of the UK as the worst-performing G7 nation was “no longer valid”.

The Office for National Statistics correction showed GDP increased 0.6 per cent in the last quarter of 2021. It was previously estimated to have contracted by 1.2 per cent.

It also means the economy grew by a total 8.5 per cent during 2021, against the previous estimate of 7.6 per cent.

The cock-up means the economy actually returned to pre-Covid levels in 2021 and emerged from lockdown outperforming Germany, France, Italy and Japan.

And rather than being bottom of the pile, we were the third fastest- growing nation in the G7 behind Canada and the USA.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “The fact that the UK recovered from the pandemic much faster than thought shows that, once again, those determined to talk down the British economy have been proved wrong.”

But economists warned that UK assets had likely been negatively viewed due to the wrong data.

Labour — which has accused the Tories of presiding over dreadful growth — did not appear to comment on the news last night.

The ONS blamed Covid volatility for making it harder to make accurate GDP estimates.