The UK economy grew slightly in May 2026, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The growth figure was just 0.1% — a tenth of one percent. That came after the economy had shrunk by the same amount in April.

GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, is the total value of everything a country produces. When it goes up, the economy is growing. When it goes down, it is shrinking. A 0.1% rise is growth, but only just.

Earlier in the year the numbers looked better. GDP grew 0.6% in the first three months of 2026, the fastest in a year, Bloomberg reported. In March alone it grew 0.3%, when experts had actually expected it to shrink, Reuters reported. But economists, including at the Bank of England, questioned whether seasonal effects — things like weather or holidays distorting the data — had made those figures look better than they really were.

The wider world is unsettled. Fighting between the US and Iran restarted the week before these figures came out. Oil prices rose from about $72 to $84 a barrel, though that is still below the $120 high seen earlier in 2026. The ONS said the conflict had hit manufacturing, hospitality, travel agencies, and entertainment companies.

Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG, said warmer weather and the World Cup might have encouraged people to spend more in June and July, but it probably would not be enough to fix the wider weakness. Fergus Jimenez-England, an economist at NIESR, a research institute, said the data confirmed growth remains fragile.

This is happening during a political change. Andy Burnham is about to become prime minister, with Keir Starmer on his way out, the BBC reported. Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, called the May growth figure "not a bad welcome gift for incoming PM Andy Burnham."

A Treasury spokesperson said the UK was the fastest-growing economy in the G7 — a group of seven wealthy nations — in the first quarter, and said the OECD, an international body of developed countries, agreed the UK had restored stability. Conservative shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride disagreed strongly. He said chancellor Rachel Reeves had "failed" to boost growth and that "two years of higher taxes have choked the economy." Stride also said Burnham wanted "even more taxes to pay for more benefits," and argued the problem went beyond one person: "Starmer and Reeves may be on their way out but the problem isn't just the chancellor, it's the Labour Party."

Prices are also a concern. UK consumer prices were up 41.4% as of May 2026 compared to the Brexit vote — the biggest rise of any country in Western Europe, Reuters reported in June. That ongoing pressure on prices sits alongside the oil price rise, which is working its way through the same industries the ONS identified as affected.

The broader picture is that Burnham is taking over an economy that has not slipped back into decline, but is growing too weakly to feel secure. The 0.1% May figure barely undoes April's fall. With the Bank of England itself raising doubts about the reliability of recent GDP figures, the new government will find it hard to argue that things are genuinely improving. The strong start to the year, if it was distorted by seasonal effects, may have looked better than the reality.

The political fight is already taking shape. Stride's attempt to tie Burnham to Reeves's record on tax and spending suggests the Conservatives plan to argue that a new prime minister does not mean a real change of direction. Whether Burnham can shake off that label will depend partly on figures like these — too weak to celebrate, too unclear to pin down, and produced in a data series the central bank itself has questioned.