Britain's economic recovery better than expected

Britain’s emergence from the recession has turned out better than expected following the release of new figures. The recession officially ended in the final quarter of 2009, when the Office for National Statistics estimated that Britain’s overall economic performance had expanded by 0.1%.

However, new data revealing a stronger-than-expected performance from the services sector and a strong December overall means the economy actually grew by 0.3% during that period as it began to emerge from the deepest recession in living memory. Although positive, the revised expansion still remains lower than economists had expected. It has also renewed suspicions in Westminster that prime minister Gordon Brown may call a snap election rather than waiting until May to go to the country.