Faisal Islam
Economics editor

There are many millions of households for whom normal growth will not feel good.

When I go around the country and ask people about recession ending, there is a mixture of resignation, laughter and annoyance.

The significant hike in the level of prices is what households notice the most, more than the rate of inflation or GDP. While per capita GDP is now also up for the first time in two years, it is still lower now than two years ago.

Will people be grateful for a turning point? Or will they focus on years of sluggish growth and declining living standards before that?

The economic hangover from the worst health crisis in a century and the worst energy crisis in a generation was always going to be tough, but the economy now appears to be returning to normal. If sustained, that is a marked improvement.

And with that, we're closing our live coverage. If you would like to continue reading about this story, check out our news story here.

This page was edited by Emily McGarvey and Aoife Walsh. It was written by Dearbail Jordan, Ali Abbas Ahmadi, Sophie Abdulla and James Harness. Thank you for joining us.

Growth figures could give economy momentumpublished at 10:51 British Summer Time 10 May

10:51 BST 10 May

Faisal Islam
Economics editor

These figures are important not because they show a boom, they do not.

If sustained, they show an economy returning to a normal rate of growth, and an economy at the top of the G7 league table.

But because growth has been so sluggish for several years, what was normal growth before the late 2000s financial crisis is also very robust by recent standards.

The economy has proven remarkably resilient to all the shocks thrown at it and then 15 years of near zero interest rates undone in 15 months.

The hope would be that this start to 2024 could give momentum to the economy throughout this year, generating more business and consumer confidence.

The imminent fall in inflation close to the normal target level of 2% will underline this.

Interest rates should also start to fall in the summer, but the strength of this number may lessen the chances of a cut next month.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves tells the BBC that GDP was always expected to bounce back after falling into what the Tories had called a "technical recession" last year.

Reeves says she expects the Tories are happy to call this a "technical recovery".

She adds that working people are worse off since Rishi Sunak took office, and says this is the first parliament on record "where living standards will be lower at the end than they were at the beginning".

"The numbers are not deserving of the victory lap that Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt seem to want to go on," she adds.

When asked what Labour would have done differently had they been in government, Reeves says the party would never have delivered Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng's budget which "crashed the economy".

We're hearing now from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which says the rise in GDP "won’t make up for 14 years of lost living standards".

In a statement, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak says that the Conservatives are "presiding over the worst period for economic stagnation and livelihoods in modern history", and have "succeeded only in making families poorer".

Is this proof the economy is 'returning to full health'?published at 10:21 British Summer Time 10 May

10:21 BST 10 May

Earlier, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said today’s GDP figures are “proof that the economy is returning to full health”.

Experts may disagree with that interpretation, but he was broadly correct on the statistics he quoted.

We are “growing this year” so far, and have the best forecast growth “among European G7 countries over the next six years” - although slower than the US or Canada.

Energy prices are "falling", wages are "growing faster than inflation", and the tax cuts announced this year are "worth £900" for the average full-time earner, but not as much if you factor in other tax changes.

Today’s figures may back the hope that the UK economy is “turning a corner”, as the Bank of England boss Andrew Bailey told the BBC yesterday.

But one set of positive figures on growth after two years of very little growth “cannot be considered as 'proof' of anything”, according to Prof Stephen Millard, deputy director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

March growth surpasses forecastspublished at 10:14 British Summer Time 10 May

10:14 BST 10 May

Dearbail Jordan
Business reporter

Today's figures also show how the economy performed in March alone.

Economists had expected a 0.1% increase in GDP but between February and March, it grew by 0.4%.

Within that, accommodation and food services - ie dining out - rose strongly. That's perhaps not surprising given the early Easter in March as well as Mother's Day and St Patrick's Day.

On the manufacturing side of the economy, output from the pharmaceutical sector jumped by 7.6% month-on-month but that's because this industry delivers in bulk order so output is sort of lumpy.

Car production, however, shrank by 2.8%.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has said previously that UK car production dropped in March because manufacturers have been adjusting their factories to make new car models such as electric vehicles.

The 0.6% rise in GDP is a "hollow victory" for the UK's economy, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) says.

Suren Thiru, ICAEW's economics director, says the bigger picture “remains one of an economy struggling with stagnation, as poor productivity and high economic inactivity limits our growth potential”.

We're getting in more reaction now to the latest GDP figures.

Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK, says continued growth is expected for the rest of the year and that "the worst is behind the UK economy".

She says falling inflation and rising wages helped to "repair some of the damage to household incomes and support households' consumption".

The squeeze on living standards was highlighted in by GDP per head, which rose for the first time in two years in the first quarter, up 0.4%, but was 0.7% lower than a year earlier.

Gora Suri, economist at PwC, says this could suggest that households have seen "little meaningful improvement in living standards" in the last two years.

Image source, .

Dearbail Jordan
Business reporter

One area of the economy that struggled between January and March was construction. It shrank by 0.9% official figures show, though that is an improvement from a steeper contraction in the last three months of last year.

The main reason was a sharp drop in commercial construction - that's things such as shops and offices.

Dreadful weather in February also meant that conditions were pretty challenging for the building trade.

However, one area that did grow was repair and maintenance - up by 0.3%. The reason, though, is pretty grim.

The ONS says there is anecdotal evidence that housing associations had been putting more money into repairs "to deal with problems such as damp arising from tenants using less heating because of the higher cost of living".

The economy grew by 0.6% between January and March this year, according to official figures, meaning the UK is no longer recession.

If you're just joining us, here's a look at what we've been covering so far:

• The 0.6% rise in GDP means that the economy grew at the fastest rate for two years, the the Office for National Statistics (ONS) says
• Growth over the first quarter of 2024 was “stronger" than expected, with services such as retail, public transport, haulage and health being the biggest driver of growth, according to the ONS
• Chancellor Jeremy Hunt says the figures are "encouraging" and "an indication that we're on the right track"
• But Labour's shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves says this not the time for Conservative ministers “to be doing a victory lap”, adding that prices and mortgage costs are "still significantly higher"
• And the Lib Dems say households struggling with cost-of-living pressures "have had enough of this out of touch Conservative government," as the party called for a general election
• The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales described the latest GDP figures as a "hollow victory", as the economy is "still struggling with stagnation"

Stay with us for more updates and analysis.

Image source, Getty Images

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says the economy "has turned a corner", after official figures showed that the UK emerged from recession at the start of the year.

"The economy has turned a corner. Today's news proves that," Sunak says on X.

"We know things are still tough for many people, but the plan is working, and we must stick to it."

UK economy grows at fastest rate for two yearspublished at 08:45 British Summer Time 10 May

08:45 BST 10 May

Dearbail Jordan
Business reporter

The 0.6% rise in GDP means that the economy grew at the fastest rate for two years, according to the ONS.

It is the best growth since the first three months of 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine, sparking an energy crisis, soaring food prices and general inflationary chaos.

The last time the economy grew faster was between October and December in 2021, when it expanded by 1.5%.

That was no mean feat at the time. The spread of Omicron - remember that? - was playing havoc and Covid restrictions were impacting the hospitality and retail sectors.

Dearbail Jordan
Business reporter

What do today's figures mean for interest rates? Can we expect a cut from the Bank of England sooner rather than later?

Perhaps not, according to experts at Capital Economics.

On the one hand, they say that GDP growth is "still fairly weak". It is only 0.2% higher than it was between January and March last year.

However, economists say early indicators suggest that the UK "rose robustly in April".

"This may mean the Bank of England doesn’t need to rush to cut interest rates," says Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist.

"But the timing of the first interest rate cut will ultimately be determined by the next inflation and labour market releases."

On Thursday, the Bank again held rates at 5.25% but indicated a summer cut could be on the cards.

Hunt is now defending the Conservatives record in government, saying the party's policies have ensured the UK has a stronger economic future than for many other countries.

"After 14 years, we have economic prospects where we are going to grow faster than any other major European country. We've created more jobs, we've attracted more investment than any other major European country," he tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"That's happened because we have over that period taken difficult decisions to unleash our economic potential."

Hunt concludes by saying that today's GDP figures "are an indication that we're on the right track".

Hunt is asked now how the Conservatives could portray themselves anymore as the party of economic confidence.

He says mistakes were made in Liz Truss’s mini-budget in 2022, and they were quickly corrected within weeks when he became chancellor.

Hunt goes on to say it would be wrong to attribute interest rates and the prices of mortgages going up to the mini-budget.

He says the government is making difficult decisions to take down the tax burden.

More now from Hunt.

Presenter Mishal Husain puts it to the chancellor that the UK hasn't experienced a strong economic recovery because it's "barely grown for two years".

Hunt says over last quarter it's been joint highest growth in G7.

"When you are tackling inflation at 11%, the Bank of England rightly has to put up interest rates, the government has to take difficult decisions like not caving into public sector pay strikes which would further fuel inflation," he adds.

We're hearing from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt on BBC Radio 4's Today programme now.

He starts off by saying that the latest GDP figures are "encouraging", but that the longer term data about the UK economy is more significant.

The chancellor goes on to say that since 2010, the government has created more jobs in the UK than anywhere else in Europe and has attracted more greenfield foreign direct investment than anywhere in the world outside the US and China.

He adds that the country has the largest technology sector in Europe.

“For families that have been having a really tough time, I think they can see that the very difficult decisions we’ve taken in order to get the economy back on its feet after the pandemic, after the energy shock, are beginning to pay off," he says.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will soon be speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, following the release of the latest GDP figures.

We'll bring you those lines here shortly, but you can also follow along by pressing the Play button at the top of this page.

We're hearing more reaction now to the latest GDP figures - this time from the Liberal Democrats.

"If Rishi Sunak thinks hard-hit households will be celebrating today, he is even more out of touch than we thought," says Sarah Olney, Treasury spokesperson for the Lib Dems.

She says households struggling with cost-of-living pressures "have had enough of this out of touch Conservative government".

"The only way to kickstart the economy is to boot this Conservative government out of office. It’s time for a general election," Olney adds.

Better outcome than economists expected, but more to dopublished at 07:56 British Summer Time 10 May

07:56 BST 10 May

Dharshini David
Chief economics correspondent

It was a better performance in the first few months this year than most economists, including those at the Bank of England, initially expected, and growth more buoyant than in the major European nations.

But that may not be apparent to many people; strip out inflation and population growth, and what number crunchers call GDP per head was 0.7% lower than a year ago.

Put it another way, on average we were each the equivalent of £100 also worse off than a couple of years ago. There’s more to do.