Encouraging new figures show the UK economy is growing for the first time this year.

Dorset Chamber chief executive Ian Girling said the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) was another boost as restrictions eased following four months of lockdown.

The latest statistics show that the UK gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.4 per cent in February, in stark contrast to a 2.2 per cent drop in January.

Ian said: “This is encouraging news and feeds into the air of positivity as non-essential retail, pubs and other businesses re-opened on Monday.

“It is a marginal increase so it may be too early to say the green shoots of recovery are here but it is a boost after an extremely challenging few months for many businesses in Dorset.

“The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) latest quarterly survey results also revealed that sales were starting to increase, so there is cause for optimism.

“It is essential that we build as much resilience in the economy as possible for when government support winds down more comprehensively later in the year.”

Despite the 0.4 per cent increase, the UK economy still remained 7.8 per cent smaller than in 2020.

The latest ONS data also showed that trade between the UK and EU recovered in February following a sharp drop of 42 per cent in January.

Exports jumped by 46.6 per cent in February while imports rose by 7.3 per cent after following a 29.7 per cent fall in January.