The British economy has struggled back to the high point it had attained just before the financial collapse six years ago, according to a think tank.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said "robust" growth helped the economy grow by between 1% and 1.2% in the three months to April.
Strong growth in April could prove pivotal in kicking the country back into the economic position it had achieved before the banking crisis.
If so, it could mean that the Great Recession is over, although perhaps not all the suffering it engendered.
The economy shrank by 7.2%, which was around £111bn, in the recession, the second sharpest fall in the G7 group of countries.
NIESR will be looking particularly at April’s figures for construction and industrial output, but also noted that much of the growth would continue to the fuelled by consumer spending.
Some countries, such as Germany and the US, had already returned to pre-crisis levels by 2010.
