UK economy shrinks but might avoid double-dip recession

Britain’s economy shrank in November as it went into a new lockdown, but the decline was smaller than expected as businesses adjusted to social distancing and schools remained open, making a double-dip recession less likely.

The 2.6 per cent monthly decline in Friday’s official data was the first since April but less than half the average contraction forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. The scale was also far smaller than April’s 18.8 per cent collapse during Britain’s first lockdown.