UK goods trade gap biggest on record
The UK's goods trade gap with the rest of the world widened by £1.9 billion to a record high of £125 billion in 2015, official figures show.
The Office for National Statistics also warned the latest figures would have a negative impact on its second estimate of fourth-quarter economic growth.
But 2015 also saw a record surplus in the UK's dominant services sector of £90 billion. That meant the UK's total trade gap widened by just £300 million last year.
The overall deficit - the difference between the amount the UK imports and what it exports - stood at £34.7 billion in 2015, the ONS said.
It will publish its second estimate of fourth-quarter economic growth on 25 February.
Britain is very good at exporting services - financial, tourism, creative and legal - where the UK's trade surplus hit a record £90.3 billion. And is notoriously bad at increasing the exports of goods as the UK struggles to rebalance its economy away from consumer consumption towards manufacturing.
The strength of the pound for most of last year is only exacerbating Britain's difficulty selling things abroad. This has been George Osborne's headache ever since becoming Chancellor in 2010.
Most worrying, trade with Germany and China - the two significant powerhouses of Europe and Asia - weakened in the final quarter of 2015.
There is also an increasing division between the UK's performance in the European Union, where the country's goods trade deficit is widening, and Britain's trade with the rest of the world, where the situation is rosier.
Between 2014 and 2015 exports of goods to countries outside the EU increased by £3.5 billion.
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