UK economy: What the experts say

Andrew Sentance, formerly on the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, believes 2014 will be 'the strongest year of the recovery so far'. Photo: David Levene

With Britain's recovery picking up pace in the second quarter, official figures have confirmed that GDP expanded by 0.6%. Britain is on the mend, said George Osborne, but what do the economists say?

"The UK recovery is picking up pace. While there are still significant obstacles to overcome before a strong and sustained recovery is in sight, the economy is moving in the right direction."

"This broad-based rise in activity sets the scene for a gradual acceleration in growth next year. We are a long way from the heady rates of GDP growth that prevailed before the crisis, but the UK is on the mend."

"It's easy to pick holes in Britain's nascent recovery, but we shouldn't be churlish. All sectors expanded on the quarter and industrial production grew as fast as service-sector output."

"There is a difference between growth getting better and growth being good. The ONS figures show [the economy] is getting better, but is hardly good."

"Surveys, housing indicators and hard monthly data have been undeniably robust. But can it last? We are reluctant to extrapolate the upward trajectory for growth much beyond early 2014."

"The recovery position remains far from strong and in our view still not approaching a faster recovery speed. "

"Short-term measures may have helped inject some life into the economy, but we would encourage government to consider its longer-term strategy, particularly a meaningful national investment bank."

"We should expect fluctuations, but the underlying trend is improving. This latest figure is consistent with our projection of 1% growth this year and 2% next, which would make 2014 the strongest year of the recovery so far."

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