Revised GDP figures highlight economy's weakness

The Office for National Statistics has revised the UK economy's growth down from 0.5% to 0.4% for the final quarter of 2017. It has also confirmed the economy grew by only 1.7% in 2017, down from an earlier estimate of 1.8%.  Responding, Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable said:  "These revisions confirm that the economy is at its weakest since 2012. Some industries, such as construction, look particularly frail, while families are being hit by rising inflation at a time when wage growth is poor. "The UK economy will continue to be outpaced by other countries if the Conservatives maintain their pursuit of a needlessly hard Brexit. Unnecessary threats to pull us out of the Single Market and the Customs Union are putting a dampener on the economy."