One area of the economy that struggled between January and March was construction. It shrank by 0.9% official figures show, though that is an improvement from a steeper contraction in the last three months of last year.
The main reason was a sharp drop in commercial construction – that’s things such as shops and offices.
Dreadful weather in February also meant that conditions were pretty challenging for the building trade.
However, one area that did grow was repair and maintenance – up by 0.3%. The reason, though, is pretty grim.
The ONS says there is anecdotal evidence that housing associations had been putting more money into repairs “to deal with problems such as damp arising from tenants using less heating because of the higher cost of living”.