New figures released this morning show GDP rose by just 1.8%, when the economic consensus having expected growth of between 5 and 6%. In the preceding three months GDP fell by 19.1%, taking the UK economy back to levels not seen since the early 2000s. The UK economy was nearly a quarter smaller in May than February…

The Chancellor’s response to the news was grim, saying “today’s figures underline the scale of the challenge we face.” The Treasury is pointing to the economic support package announced last week, which obviously will not have had an effect on May’s figures. The news, however, is not a great start and will make No. 10 jittery about how likely the recovery is to be sharply V-shaped. Not good…