People are silhouetted as they walk along the River Thames near the 'Walkie Talkie' building in London, May 1, 2026. (Photo: AP)

Britain's economy expanded in the first quarter (Q1) of 2026, with real gross domestic product (GDP) rising by 0.6 percent compared with the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2025, according to estimates released Thursday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The growth in the three months to March followed revised growth of 0.2 percent in Q4 2025, the ONS said.

Output in the services sector increased by 0.8 percent during the quarter, while the construction and production sectors grew by 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

"Growth picked up in the first quarter of the year, led by broad-based increases across the services sector. Within that, wholesale, computer programming and advertising performed particularly well," said Liz McKeown, ONS director of economic statistics.

Production also grew slightly, while construction returned to growth, although it only partly reversed weakness seen at the end of last year, she added.

Stuart Morrison, research manager at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said the Q1 growth figures showed that the optimism expressed by many businesses at the start of the year had been well founded.

However, he noted that firms continued to face significant cost pressures, with 73 percent citing labor costs and 52 percent citing energy costs as key drivers of rising prices, according to the BCC's latest survey, even before the escalation of conflict in the Middle East.

Morrison said businesses were concerned that the full impact of the Middle East conflict would become more apparent in the coming months, while recent domestic political uncertainty had further added to concerns.