How the UK is one of the slowest-growing economies in the G7

Despite Boris Johnson’s repeated fast-growth boast, Britain was almost bottom of the G7 in the most recent quarter.

Illustration by Gary Waters/Ikon Images.

At this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Boris Johnson repeated his regular claim that the UK is the fastest-growing economy in the G7. Over the past year that is true, but it is not for the most recent quarter or, indeed, since the start of the pandemic.

The latest quarterly growth figures actually point to the UK being one of the slowest-growing economies in the G7 (1.1 per cent growth), ahead of only the US and Japan, where growth fell.

Since the start of the pandemic, it would also be wrong to claim that Britain has been one of the fastest-growing economies. Indeed, between quarter four of 2019 and quarter three of 2021, GDP fell by 1.5 per cent, the worst performance of any country bar Japan, where growth fell by 1.9 per cent.