Chancellor Philip Hammond had a pre-Budget boost today when an international economic body upgraded UK growth prospects for this year.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development predicted 1.6 per cent growth this year, up by 0.4 points from its November estimate.
But the Paris-based think tank stuck to a prediction that growth will slow to one per cent next year, citing rising inflation and uncertainty over post-Brexit trade terms with the EU.
The OECD said: “The pace of expansion in 2016 was lower than in previous years ... UK growth is expected to ease further as rising inflation weighs on real incomes and consumption, and business investment weakens amid uncertainty about the UK’s future trading relations with its partners.”
The OECD also warned “rapid house price increases” in Britain could herald a future economic downturn.
It came as Labour slammed Budget plans for more grammar schools as part of a £500 million boost for education. Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner called the move an “ideological attack on working-class people” that would “suck money” from existing schools that faced cuts.
