Brits squirrelled away their wages, profits, and pandemic handouts during this year’s spring lockdown, taking household savings to near-record levels, according to official figures. The data from the Office for National Statistics also show that GDP contracted during that first quarter of the year by more than expected, dropping by 1.6 percent compared with the previous 1.5 percent estimate. The drag of the 2021 lockdown kept GDP below pre-pandemic levels by 8.8 percent, but it was less marked than during the 2020 spring lockdown when it dropped by 20 percent. But the finer-grained monthly data give a more positive picture, showing that growth jumped from 0.8 percent in February to 2.4 percent in March. In April the jump was 2.3 percent and the Bank of England’s outgoing Chief Economist Andy Haldane recently said the economy was going “gangbusters.” The latest data come amid growing pressure on the government to stick to …