UK GDP falls by record 20.4% in April as lockdown paralyses economy

Latest figures are double the drop during the miners' strikes and winter of discontent in the 1970s

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Britain's economy shrank by a record 20.4% in April as the first full month of the coronavirus lockdown set the country on course for the worst recession in more than three centuries.

The official figures for gross domestic product (GDP) from the Office for National Statistics showed no area of the economy was left unscathed after the government imposed tight controls on business and social life to limit the spread of the disease.

One of the two main definitions of recession in the UK is at least two quarters of negative economic growth. Judged by this yardstick, the UK was last in recession in 2008-09, when there were six consecutive quarters of negative growth.

The coronavirus lockdown has virtually halted international travel and tourism, hitting airlines and other travel companies, aerospace and auto manufacturers and oil companies hard.