Ahead of Monday's UK-EU reset summit, campaigners stress need for common sense deal with Europe to bring down supermarket prices.
The UK economy has grown at the fastest rate in a year during the first three months of 2025, according to new official figures.
As per the Office for National Statistics (ONS), gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.7% from January to March, beating economists’ expectations of 0.6% for the quarter.
Driven by the services sector, it comes as a boost to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and marks the highest quarterly growth rate since the first three months of 2024, when GDP rose 0.9%.
It comes just days ahead of the government’s UK-EU reset summit on Monday, May 19, which is expected to see UK ministers and the European Commission improve their relationship.
Independent economic research, commissioned by Best for Britain and undertaken by Frontier Economics, found the UK can secure significant growth of up to 2.2% via deep alignment in goods and services with the EU, focused in the Midlands and north of England.
While Best for Britain’s recent polling shows that prioritising trade with the EU is the most popular choice in every constituency in the UK, and voters back the government to go further in securing better trade terms with the EU including Labour voters now considering Reform.
Responding to the UK GDP data, ahead of the UK-EU summit on Monday, Naomi Smith, Chief Executive of Best for Britain, said:
"This badly needed economic growth comes as welcome news to British businesses and workers - but nothing can bring down supermarket prices and drive growth like a common sense deal with the EU.
“Our most recent polling shows a majority of voters want ministers to go even further on securing better trade terms, and independent analysis shows removing trade barriers with our largest market will deliver significant economic growth in every region of our country.”