down the British economy".

For his part, shadow chancellor Ed Balls said the IMF was "right to warn about an unbalanced recovery" and accused the government of "complacently trying to claim that everything is going well".

On Tuesday, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said that UK growth in the first part of 2014 had been "robust", and estimated that UK output grew by 0.9% in the three months ending in March.

Nevertheless, NIESR said that the UK economic recovery was "in its infancy" and that it did not expect the Bank of England to raise interest rates until the middle of 2015.

Food and drinks

Earlier on Tuesday, there was further indication of UK growth, with the release of manufacturing and industrial production figures.

UK manufacturing output grew by 1%in February from January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.

The rise - driven by pharmaceuticals, transport equipment, food, beverages and tobacco - was the biggest since September, and ahead of forecasts.

The year-on-year figure saw output 3.8% higher than in the same month of 2013.

Industrial output, which includes power generation and North Sea oil production as well as manufacturing, climbed 0.9% on the month.