UK economy grew by fastest rate since second world war in 2021

GDP rose 7.5% across last year but contracted by 0.2% in December as Omicron dented consumer spending

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Britain's economy grew by 7.5% last year in the fastest annual growth rate since the second world war, despite falling back in December as the Omicron variant dented consumer spending.

It comes after the UK suffered one of the largest annual economic contractions of any major economy when GDP fell by 9.4% in 2020 amid the fallout from the first wave of the pandemic.