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Every other advanced economy performed better than Britain in the second quarter of 2019, a ranking confirmed on Friday when Canada was the last of the seven to report GDP figures for the period between April and June.
Canada topped the G7 with strong growth of 0.9% in the second quarter. The US and Japan both posted solid, if unspectacular, growth of 0.5% and 0.4% respectively.
The UK brought up the rear, after contracting by 0.2% in the second quarter. Germany also shrank, by 0.1%, while France picked up pace with 0.3% growth. Italy stagnated with zero growth. [...]
The UK’s second-quarter contraction was partly caused by stockpiling in the run-up to the original Brexit deadline at the end of March. This dragged economic activity forward into the first quarter, meaning GDP rose by 0.5% in the three months between January and March. Car production was also particularly weak, as factories moved their annual summer shutdowns forward to April. [...]