came to a sudden halt as Ranvir Singh announced some “breaking news”.
The presenter, 47, joined Ed Balls and Kate Garraway on Thursday’s (February 13) of the ITV programme, which delved into the top headlines of the day.
Ed and Kate spoke of negotiations to end the war in and the news that a judge-led public inquiry will start in “a matter of weeks” into those killed in the Nottingham attacks.
Turning to Ranvir after sharing the day’s biggest news stories, she delivered another announcement with viewers.
“We’ve got some breaking news, actually, on the economy,” Ranvir said.
The Lorraine stand-in presenter revealed that official figures show that in the final three months of last year, easing pressure on the chancellor, Rachel Reeves.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show gross domestic product rose by 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2024, beating the forecasts of City economists and the Bank of England for a decline of 0.1%.
Ranvir said: “The government has said that growing the economy is its number one mission and although that figure is tiny, it’s almost zero, it will still be welcome news for the chancellor Rachel Reeves as it does, for now, remove the risk that the country might have been slipping into recession.”
The ONS estimated that the economy expanded by 0.4% in December, which is better than most analysts expected, and marked a pick up following a 0.1% rise in November and a 0.1% fall in October.
Ms Reeves acknowledged that while the economy had inched forward, more substantial progress will “take time”.
Liz McKeown, the ONS director of economic statistics, said: “The economy picked up in December after several weak months, meaning, overall, the economy grew a little in the fourth quarter of last year.
“Across the quarter, growth in services and construction were partially offset by a fall in production. GDP per head, in contrast, fell back slightly in the quarter.
“In December, wholesale, film distribution and pubs and bars all had a strong month, as did manufacturing of machinery and the often-erratic pharmaceutical industry. However, these were partially offset by weak months for computer programming, publishing and car sales.”
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Ranvir Singh shared some breaking news (Image: ITV)