section_path: History/2020 to present
section_name: 2020 to present
paragraph_text: 2020 to present
  
  In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a temporary ban was imposed on non-essential business and travel in the UK. The BoE cut the interest rate to 0.1%. Economic growth had been weak before the crisis, with zero growth in Q4 2019. By May, 23% of the British workforce was furloughed (temporarily laid off). Government schemes were launched to help affected workers. In the first half of 2020, GDP shrank by 22.6%, the deepest recession in UK history and worse than any other G7 or European country. During 2020 the BoE purchased £450 billion of government bonds, taking the amount of quantitative easing since the start of the Great Recession to £895 billion. Overall, GDP shrank by 9.9% in 2020, making it the worst contraction since the Great Frost paralysed the economy in 1709.
  
  In 2021 consumer price inflation (CPI) began rising sharply due to higher energy and transport costs. With annual inflation approaching 11%, the BoE gradually increased the base rate to 2.25% during the first nine months of 2022. The UK was not alone: global inflation rates were the highest in 40 years owing to the pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, though as of September 2022, the country had the highest domestic electricity prices and amongst the highest gas prices in Europe, contributing to a cost of living crisis. In February 2022 the BoE began quantitative tightening (a reversal of QE) by not renewing mature government bonds and in November started offloading bonds to private investors, signalling the end to an era of easy borrowing. In October 2022 year-on-year CPI was at 11.1%, the worst for 41 years, food price inflation was 16.2%, gas prices 130% and electricity 66%.
  
  In August 2023, the ONS revised its analysis of Britain's economic performance and said that Britain's GDP had surpassed its pre-COVID-19 size in the final quarter of 2021, a much earlier recovery from the pandemic than previously estimated and ahead of other big European countries. The British economy was 0.6% larger in the fourth quarter of 2021 than in the final quarter of 2019, compared with an earlier estimate that it was 1.2% smaller. The new Labour government elected in summer 2024 implemented the most significant enhancement of employment regulations in a generation. This included an increase in minimum wages and a wide array of rights.
  
  In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a temporary ban was imposed on non-essential business and travel in the UK. The BoE cut the interest rate to 0.1%. Economic growth had been weak before the crisis, with zero growth in Q4 2019. By May, 23% of the British workforce was furloughed (temporarily laid off). Government schemes were launched to help affected workers. In the first half of 2020, GDP shrank by 22.6%, the deepest recession in UK history and worse than any other G7 or European country. During 2020 the BoE purchased £450 billion of government bonds, taking the amount of quantitative easing since the start of the Great Recession to £895 billion. Overall, GDP shrank by 9.9% in 2020, making it the worst contraction since the Great Frost paralysed the economy in 1709.
  
  In 2021 consumer price inflation (CPI) began rising sharply due to higher energy and transport costs. With annual inflation approaching 11%, the BoE gradually increased the base rate to 2.25% during the first nine months of 2022. The UK was not alone: global inflation rates were the highest in 40 years owing to the pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, though as of September 2022, the country had the highest domestic electricity prices and amongst the highest gas prices in Europe, contributing to a cost of living crisis. In February 2022 the BoE began quantitative tightening (a reversal of QE) by not renewing mature government bonds and in November started offloading bonds to private investors, signalling the end to an era of easy borrowing. In October 2022 year-on-year CPI was at 11.1%, the worst for 41 years, food price inflation was 16.2%, gas prices 130% and electricity 66%.
  
  In August 2023, the ONS revised its analysis of Britain's economic performance and said that Britain's GDP had surpassed its pre-COVID-19 size in the final quarter of 2021, a much earlier recovery from the pandemic than previously estimated and ahead of other big European countries. The British economy was 0.6% larger in the fourth quarter of 2021 than in the final quarter of 2019, compared with an earlier estimate that it was 1.2% smaller. The new Labour government elected in summer 2024 implemented the most significant enhancement of employment regulations in a generation. This included an increase in minimum wages and a wide array of rights.
  
  In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a temporary ban was imposed on non-essential business and travel in the UK. The BoE cut the interest rate to 0.1%. Economic growth had been weak before the crisis, with zero growth in Q4 2019. By May, 23% of the British workforce was furloughed (temporarily laid off). Government schemes were launched to help affected workers. In the first half of 2020, GDP shrank by 22.6%, the deepest recession in UK history and worse than any other G7 or European country. During 2020 the BoE purchased £450 billion of government bonds, taking the amount of quantitative easing since the start of the Great Recession to £895 billion. Overall, GDP shrank by 9.9% in 2020, making it the worst contraction since the Great Frost paralysed the economy in 1709.
  
  In 2021 consumer price inflation (CPI) began rising sharply due to higher energy and transport costs. With annual inflation approaching 11%, the BoE gradually increased the base rate to 2.25% during the first nine months of 2022. The UK was not alone: global inflation rates were the highest in 40 years owing to the pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, though as of September 2022, the country had the highest domestic electricity prices and amongst the highest gas prices in Europe, contributing to a cost of living crisis. In February 2022 the BoE began quantitative tightening (a reversal of QE) by not renewing mature government bonds and in November started offloading bonds to private investors, signalling the end to an era of easy borrowing. In October 2022 year-on-year CPI was at 11.1%, the worst for 41 years, food price inflation was 16.2%, gas prices 130% and electricity 66%.
  
  In August 2023, the ONS revised its analysis of Britain's economic performance and said that Britain's GDP had surpassed its pre-COVID-19 size in the final quarter of 2021, a much earlier recovery from the pandemic than previously estimated and ahead of other big European countries. The British economy was 0.6% larger in the fourth quarter of 2021 than in the final quarter of 2019, compared with an earlier estimate that it was 1.2% smaller. The new Labour government elected in summer 2024 implemented the most significant enhancement of employment regulations in a generation. This included an increase in minimum wages and a wide array of rights.