Rishi Sunak slams BBC for ‘inaccurate commentary’ and accuses public broadcaster of refusing to publish figures showing UK economy recovered faster than France and Germany post-pandemic

• Mr Sunak was surprised the revised official figures were not at top of BBC page  
• Latest figures imply that GDP is £50 billion larger than previous estimates

Rishi Sunak has slammed the BBC for ‘inaccurate commentary’ and has accused the public broadcaster of refusing to publish figures which show the UK economy recovered faster than that of France and Germany post-pandemic. 

The Prime Minister said he was surprised that the revised official figures, which revealed that the UK outperformed both France and Germany in recovering from the Coronavirus pandemic, had not ‘found its way to the top of the BBC homepage’. 

He also told The Sun the public broadcaster ‘did cover two years of what now turns out to be completely inaccurate commentary on the British economy.’

‘The narrative that people have built up over the last couple of years is completely and utterly wrong’, he added. 

‘Keir Starmer and Labour have tried time and time again to talk down our country, to talk down our economy. And I’m delighted that the numbers will show they’re completely and utterly wrong.’

The figures show that by the middle of this year, GDP was 1.8 per cent larger than pre-Covid levels – implying it is £50 billion bigger than previous estimates.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt added: ‘We know that the economy recovered faster from the pandemic than anyone previously thought – and data out today once again proves the doubters wrong.’ 

Before now, the Office of National Statistics estimates had suggested that the economy was still 0.2 per cent lower than pre-pandemic, placing the UK bottom of the table among major advanced economies. 

But the revised figures mean that Britain has outpaced Germany, which grew by 0.2 per cent after the same period, and France, up 1.7 per cent. 

However, the UK’s recovery is still in the lower half of the G7 pack and lags well behind the US – which has seen a 6.1 per cent bounce back – with Canada, Japan and Italy also stronger.

Yesterday’s ONS upgrade was widely expected after revisions to GDP data for previous years were published earlier this month. They showed that the economy had done better in 2020 and 2021 than thought, meaning that by the end of 2021 it was already larger than pre-pandemic levels. 

Yesterday’s data showed that in 2022 the UK economy grew by 4.3 per cent rather than 4.1 per cent.

And in the first quarter of this year GDP increased by 0.3 per cent, revised up from 0.1 per cent. In the second quarter it grew by an unrevised 0.2 per cent.

Together, the revisions left the economy 1.8 per cent larger than pre-pandemic levels by the end of June rather than 0.2 per cent smaller. Thomas Pugh, economist at accounting firm RSM UK, said: ‘That adds around £50 billion to UK GDP.’

However, economists pointed out that the current outlook for growth remained sluggish. Separate figures published yesterday, from the Bank, showed the number of mortgages approved last month fell to 45,400, a six-month low.

And recent business surveys suggest the economy may have shrunk in the current third quarter – raising recession fears.

Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said the upgraded GDP data ‘does not change the big picture that the economy has lagged behind all other G7 countries aside from Germany and France’.

Investec economist Sandra Horsfield said: ‘We continue to forecast that the UK economy will enter a recession over the winter months.’