Following Chancellor George Osborne's "Budget for growth", unveiled yesterday, eyes will turn to the Office for National Statistics tomorrow when it publishes its third and final estimate for GDP in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The initial estimate by the ONS said that the economy contracted by 0.5 per cent in the last three months of last year. The decline was attributed to the snow, with the ONS saying that even with good weather GDP would have been stagnant.

The ONS' second estimate downgraded the initial estimate, with GDP contracting by 0.6 per cent. The decline was attributed not just to bad weather but by a fall in consumer spending.

Should the figure be revised down once again it will almost certainly be taken as evidence by the Opposition Labour Party that the Coalition government's economic strategy is wrong. The government however is more likely to point to the impact of weather on GDP growth rather than change its strategy.

An upward revision, should it happen, is likely to still show a decline in GDP and may cheer the Chancellor slightly, but it is unlikely to change the line of attack of the Labour Party.

GDP