Why is the UK economy doing worse than the rest of the G7?

Union flag flying in Britain on 31 January this year, the date marking the 3rd anniversary of Brexit when the UK left the EU. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The International Monetary Fund has warned that Britain is expected to be the only large industrialised country to face a shrinking economy this year.

The Washington-based fund upgraded its forecast for most leading economies but said it expected the UK economy to contract by 0.6% this year – a level 0.9 percentage points worse than that which it had pencilled in just three months ago, and slower even than that for sanctions-hit Russia.