Gross domestic product fell by 5.8% in March alone as the country saw its biggest quarterly fall since the depths of the financial crisis in 2008 as the covid-19 slump begins.

The figures reveal that the 2.0% fall in the first quarter of this year was the largest drop since the last quarter of 2008 – when the collapse of Lehman Brothers triggered a worldwide financial collapse. The March drop is the worst since ONS records began in 1997.