According to the report from Office for National Statistics, GDP fell by 19.1% in the three months to May, following falls of 10.8% in April and 2.2% in March, as government restrictions on movement dramatically reduced economic activity. All the main sectors in the economy also saw a fall in the most recent period.

The ONS also reported that GDP grew by 1.8% in May 2020. Despite this, the level of output did not recover from the record falls seen in March and April 2020 and has reduced by 24.5% compared with February 2020, before the full impact of the coronavirus. Economists had expected a 5.5% increase.

Commenting on today's GDP figures, Jonathan Athow, Deputy National Statistician for Economic Statistics, said: "Manufacturing and house building showed signs of recovery as some businesses saw staff return to work. Despite this, the economy was still a quarter smaller in May than in February, before the full effects of the pandemic struck. In the important services sector, we saw some pickup in retail, which saw record online sales. However, with lockdown restrictions remaining in place, many other services remained in the doldrums, with a number of areas seeing further declines."