The UK economy plunged by 20.4% in April – the first full month of lockdown – the Office for National Statistics has said.

April’s fall in gross domestic product (GDP) is the biggest drop the UK has seen since records began in 1997.

Jonathan Athow, Deputy National Statistician for Economic Statistics, said: ‘April’s fall in GDP is the biggest the UK has ever seen, more than three times larger than last month and almost ten times larger than the steepest pre-covid-19 fall. In April the economy was around 25% smaller than in February.

‘Virtually all areas of the economy were hit, with pubs, education, health and car sales all giving the biggest contributions to this historic fall.

‘Manufacturing and construction also saw significant falls, with manufacture of cars and housebuilding particularly badly affected.

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‘The UK’s trade with the rest of the world was also badly affected by the pandemic, with large falls in both the import and export of cars, fuels, works of art and clothing.’

This is a breaking news story, we will be updating.

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