UK economy far exceeds forecasts to grow 0.5% in boost to Rachel Reeves

City economists had forecast gross domestic product to increase by 0.1% in February. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The UK economy grew by a faster-than-expected 0.5% in February, official figures showed, in a boost for the chancellor Rachel Reeves before an expected downturn sparked by Donald Trump’s tariff war.

The increase in gross domestic product in February was larger than the 0.1% that a poll of City economists had forecast, while January’s figure of a modest fall of 0.1% was revised up to zero growth.