Official data revealed on Thursday, showed that the United Kingdom’s economy grew 0.6 percent in the April-June period, which is a slight slowdown compared with the first three months of the year.

The Office for National Statistics said in a statement that the Gross Domestic Product of Britain had expanded by 0.7 percent in the first quarter of 2024. 

The data covers the period just before Britain’s general election in early July, which resulted in the center-left Labour party winning power on a promise to grow the country’s economy by a sizable amount.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Rachel Reeves on Thursday in reaction to the latest gross domestic product figures said that the new government was under no illusion as to the scale of the challenge inherited, revealing more than a decade of low economic growth and a £22 billion ($28 billion) black hole in the public finances. 

“That is why we have made economic growth our national mission and we are taking the tough decisions now to fix the foundations, so we can rebuild Britain and make every part of the country better off.”