A perfect storm has pitched the UK economy into troubled waters

Analysis: A new Covid variant, tougher lockdowns, record redundancies and clogged ports have arrived as Brexit turmoil looms

• New Covid variant and looming Brexit disruption deepen the gloom
• David Blanchflower: the puzzle of rising UK wages

Britain's economy is suffering increasing damage from the rapid growth in Covid infections, renewed lockdown measures, and turmoil over Brexit at the end of the worst year for growth in three centuries, according to a Guardian analysis.

With negotiations going down to the wire amid vast tailbacks at Dover before the Brexit transition expires on New Year's Eve, the latest figures from the UK economy show stalling growth, falling retail sales, and redundancies rising at the fastest rate since records began.