UK economy avoids decline but cost of living pains many

By DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The British economy has stagnated in the final three months of last year amid cost-of-living crisis that’s squeezing household budgets, crimping business investment and fueling labor unrest. The Office for National Statistics said Friday that gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, failed to grow during the fourth quarter of 2022. Britain faces a prolonged economic slowdown triggered by soaring food and energy prices. Carlton Peters, who cooks for the Margins Project charity’s free lunch program, sees it in his own life. He now buys all of his food in the reduced-price section of the supermarket and has cut out butter altogether because it is too expensive.