UK economy hit by record slump in 2020 but double-dip recession avoided

ONS figures show GDP shrank 9.9% last year, the biggest decline since the Great Frost of 1709

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Britain's economy experienced its biggest annual decline in 300 years in 2020 amid the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic but will avoid a double-dip recession, according to official figures.

The Office for National Statistics said gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 9.9% in 2020, as no sector of the economy was left unscathed by lockdowns and plummeting demand during the pandemic. It was the biggest fall in annual GDP since the Great Frost of 1709, when the economy shrank by 13%.