UK's Reeves says economy is turning a corner but public restless

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)