UK moves closer to second recession as economy shrinks 0.2%,
This article from the Guardian explains how a statistical bulletin released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the UK economy contracted by 0.2% in the last three months of 2011, meaning the UK lost about £750 million of its worth (particularly in manufacturing). It is the first quarterly fall since the last three months of 2010, when freezing weather was attributed to a 0.5% drop. The ONS figures for 2011 are a preliminary estimate, which could be revised up or down by 0.2%. However, the figures are already leading to a series of debates around whether the UK is in recovery or back in recession, the role of the Eurozone debt crisis and if public sector spending cuts are also to blame. The figures were released in the same week as the International Monetary Fund cut the growth forecast for the UK economy in 2012 from 1.6% to 0.6%.
This is particularly bad news for rural England where the additional cost of living in remote areas means it will be felt in many of our far flung places most acutely.