Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 5, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleUK's economy is recovering with 0.7% GDP growth, but public discontent over slow living standard improvements persists, says finance minister Reeves.
By David Milliken
LONDON (Reuters) -More upbeat business surveys and strong first-quarter GDP show the British economy is recovering from a weak end to 2024, but the public remain restless about slow improvements to living standards, finance minister Rachel Reeves said on Thursday.
"The most recent GDP (gross domestic product) numbers, 0.7% growth in the first quarter, the strongest in the G7, and recent business surveys ... are very positive," she said at a dinner hosted by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). "That is good news and does show we are beginning to turn the corner."
Purchasing managers' indexes released this week have shown a recovery in activity after a sharp fall in April due to the shock of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.
However, Reeves said there was a general sense of unease at a recent meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven rich nations in Canada.
"None of our countries are growing at the rate that we used to or the rate that we want to. All of us are struggling with living standards not improving and our citizens are becoming restless," she said.
Reeves is due to announce spending plans on Wednesday which will set government departments' budgets up to 2029, covering most of the remainder of her Labour Party's term in office.
At the dinner, she pledged to tackle high energy costs that hurt businesses and consumers and said the spending review would include more public investment in energy infrastructure.
Reeves repeated a promise not to raise taxes at a future budget by as much as at her first budget in October last year but declined to make more specific commitments on business taxation when asked by CBI chair Rupert Soames.
"I'm not going to be able to write four more years of budgets here this evening. But we're never going to repeat anything like that (2024 budget) again," she said.
($1 = 0.7357 pounds)
(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar)
Recent business surveys and a 0.7% GDP growth in the first quarter indicate that the British economy is recovering from a weak end to 2024.
Reeves noted a general sense of unease among finance ministers, highlighting that none of the countries are growing at desired rates and citizens are restless about living standards.
Reeves pledged to tackle high energy costs affecting both businesses and consumers, with a focus on increasing public investment in energy infrastructure.
Reeves promised not to raise taxes as significantly as in her first budget last October, but did not provide specific commitments on business taxation.
Reeves is set to announce her spending plans on Wednesday, which will outline government department budgets up to 2029.
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