UK economy on course for 1.5% expansion, NIESR predicts

Thinktank cautions Trump tariffs could blow hole in forecast, with 63% of UK firms exporting to US expecting to be hit

The British economy is on course to expand by 1.5% this year after the budget gave a boost to public spending but could be blown off course if Donald Trump goes ahead with threatened tariffs, a leading economic thinktank has warned.

In a boost to Rachel Reeves after a bruising month of negative economic figures, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) upped its annual growth prediction from 1.2% to 1.5%.