In April, the UK economy experiences a slowdown due to damp weather impeding consumer spending.

• In April, the U.K.'s economic growth came to a standstill, according to flash figures released on Wednesday, halting the weak recovery from the previous year's recession.
• The print came in line with the expectations of economists polled by Reuters.
• Construction output declined 1.4% in its third straight fall.

In April, the U.K.'s economic growth came to a standstill, as indicated by flash figures released on Wednesday, putting an end to the weak recovery from the previous year's recession.

Reuters polled economists who predicted the economy's growth rate would decrease after expanding by 0.4% in March.

In the three months to April, the GDP increased by 0.7%, resulting in a slightly brighter picture.

In the third consecutive decline, construction output fell by 1.4%, while production output decreased by 0.9%. Despite this, the U.K.'s dominant services sector continued to grow, expanding by 0.2%.

Despite experiencing a shallow recession in the first quarter, the U.K. managed to achieve moderate growth in the first three months, resulting in a positive outlook for the rest of the year.

Recent gloomy weather was attributed to the April slowdown by Lindsay James, investment strategist at Quilter Investors.

James noted in an email that the prolonged rainfall has hindered consumer spending and halted economic growth for the month.

"Although the weather has recently improved, the second quarter has begun slowly and will need to make up for lost time if it is to achieve the 0.6% growth of the first quarter."

Last month's quarterly growth report sparked speculation that the Bank of England would cut interest rates in June, but market expectations have since changed significantly.

The Bank of England will meet to discuss its monetary policy on June 20, with traders anticipating a rate cut announcement in August or September rather than this month.

On Tuesday, mixed labor data was released, revealing that U.K. unemployment unexpectedly increased to its highest level in two and a half years, while wage growth exceeded expectations at 6%.

This is a developing news story and will be updated shortly.