two weeks since nicola bulley disappeared whilst walking her dog in lancashire. now the police are extending their search downstream. and 10,000 tickets to a concert to mark the king s coronation in may are on offer via a ballot. the uk saw no economic growth in the final three months of last year according to the latest official statistics released this morning. it means the country narrowly avoided what s defined as a recession two consecutive quarters when the economy shrinks. the government says it shows the uk was more resilient than expected, after the bank of england had warned of a long period of stagnation. but the economy did shrink by 0.5% in december, and business leaders warn that firms are still struggling. the chancellor, jeremy hunt, says there is reason for optimism. well, the fact that we have avoided a recession, in fact we were the fastest growing major country last year, shows there is underlying resilience in the uk economy. but we are not out of the w
richard walker. former cabinet minister andrea leadsom. and the bbc s deputy political editor, vicki young. the chancellors day began like this. this 45p rate was simply a distraction in our mission to achieve higher growth. a u turn on the scrapping the 45p top rate of tax a policy he d announced in his mini budgetjust 10 days ago. now, in a little under 15 minnutes he ll be addressing the party faithful to persuade them that he is the man to be trusted with the economy through turbulent times. welcome to politics live in birmingham. andrea led some, after the market turmoil following the mini budget on the 23rd of september by kwasi kwarteng, and then the dramatic u turn overnight and this morning, on a central plank of that budget, and the economic perspectives of the government, how damaged is kwasi kwarteng s authority? i damaged is kwasi kwarteng s authori ? ~ ., , authority? i think it was really important authority? i think it was really important that author
thanks forjoining us on bbc news. uk inflation has hit the bank of england s target of 2% for the first time in almost three years. the figure which tells us the rate at which prices are rising hit the target in may, coming down from 2.3% in april. our chief economics correspondent dharshini david reports. gary in sussex used to have seven butchers shops. he now has four. forced to make cuts as he s been caught between soaring costs over the last few years and customers with lean budgets looking for value. but things are easing. the price is probably 10 15% more than they were at the beginning of covid, but the actual price of the product is pretty much stationary now. well, we hope it s stationary. it would be nice if it would come down, but i can t see that, not in the foreseeable future anyway. it s global food and energy costs, which triggered the rise in inflation to ii% in 2022, which have also helped it fall to the 2% target, along with the rate rises over the last