Britain is now officially in the longest "double-dip" recession for over half a century as the Gross Domestic Product shrank by 0.7% between April and June, the Office of National Statistics has revealed.


According to the Independent:
The dire performance, which represented the biggest quarterly fall since the depths of the financial crisis in the first quarter of 2009, was hindered by an extra bank holiday for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the wettest April to June period on record.

The drop means Britain's economy is now 0.8% smaller than this time 12 months ago.

ONS chief economist Joe Grice told the Guardian:
"There is always a spread in the overall figure....advertising is up by 5%. Different sectors have different experiences. This is what the returns from a large number of businesses are showing."

Chancellor George Osborne's controversial austerity package has already come under attack from labour ministers, with the Chancellor releasing a statement in response to the dismaying economic news:

"We're dealing with our debts at home and the debt crisis abroad. We've made progress over the last two years in cutting the deficit by 25 percent and businesses have created over 800,000 new jobs," he said.


"But given what's happening in the world we need a relentless focus on the economy and recent announcements on infrastructure and lending show that's exactly what we're doing."

Economists are hoping that the ONS have perhaps over-estimated their figures in this first round of market analysis, whilst praying that the forthcoming London Olympics can stimulate something of a fightback.