The ONS (Office of National Statistics) has reported lower economic growth figures for Q1 2015, coming in at just 0.3%, the lowest for the period in three years.

Mark Taylor, Dean of Warwick Business School and a former Bank of England and International Monetary Fund economist said:

 "The lower than expected GDP figures reflect underlying uncertainties in the economy as well as some structural weakness to the recovery. In terms of structure, the recovery has so far been led largely by household consumption, house prices and growth in the service sector, none of which can be sustained into the longer term without a strong performance in investment, exports and manufacturing, all of which have  been languishing.

"General elections always create policy uncertainty, and this one more than most, and therefore it's not surprising that firms are refusing to commit to investment at this point. While investment might pick up once a new administration is in power, however, the outlook for exports remains worrying since half of the UK's trade is with continental Europe and the economic outlook there is not good.

"The UK is still growing faster than the other G7 economies, however, with year-on-year growth of around 2.4%. While I would expect a return to a quarterly growth rate of something like 0.7% later in the year, an incoming government will have  a job on its hands to restore confidence in the economy and kick-start investment and manufacturing."