The UK economy shrank in July by 0.5% amid industrial action and extremely wet weather, official figures indicate, heightening fears of a recession in the second half of the year.
Analysts expected gross domestic product (GDP) to fall back by 0.2% but the Office for National Statistics said that strikes by junior doctors reduced health service activity, while retailers who had benefited from a warm June suffered in July, which was the sixth wettest on record.
