The lockdown took a smaller toll than expected on the UK economy in January, with GDP falling 2.9 percent over the month.

This is significantly better than the 4.9 percent drop that had been predicted.

Rupert Thompson, chief investment officer at Kingswood, said: “While this still leaves the economy set to see a sizeable contraction over the first quarter as a whole, the rapid vaccine roll-out holds out the prospect of a sharp rebound from the second quarter.”

More of note, perhaps, was the sharp drop in trade with the EU, with exports and imports down 41 percent and 29 percent respectively.

“O...