In the UK already bad output figures for the first quarter were revised down in June to show a contraction of 2.4 per cent. While the national accounts indicate a larger fall (2.6 per cent) for the second quarter of 1958, methods of measurement were then different and it is probable that, were current statistical techniques used for the whole of the ONS quarterly data set which starts in 1955, the first quarter of this year would be the sharpest output fall recorded. It was probably the worst quarterly economic performance in the UK since the 1926 General Strike.