The country's gross domestic product fell 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter, the Office for National Statistics said today, a sharper fall than the 0.1 percent decline forecast by analysts.

"This is a very disappointing outturn," said Philip Shaw, economist at Investec in London. "Clearly now the talk will focus on whether we are in a triple dip recession. Certainly the news is unwanted."

Britain's economy is now 3.3 percent smaller than its peak in Q1 2008, having recovered only about half the output lost during the financial crisis - a worse performance than most other major economies.