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The Conservatives have said weak growth figures show the country needs "new leadership" but Labour have insisted the economic recovery is "under way".Figures indicating growth of 0.2% between January and March intensified economic arguments between the parties.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said the figures were "disappointing" but Prime Minister Gordon Brown said any growth at all was "against the odds".
The Liberal Democrats said the recovery was "barely visible".
The figures are the last major economic data to be published before the general election.
Growth of 0.2% was less than had been expected by economists and was below the 0.4% figure for the last three months of 2009.
However, the latest figures are provisional and could be either revised up or down in the future. The last set of figures was revised up.
'Not working'
Yet the Tories said they showed Labour's claim to be slowly steering the economy out of its 18-month slump was untrue.
"They are disappointing figures, below expectations," Mr Osborne said. "We now have a jobless recovery from a weak government".
Coming days after data showed unemployment rising in the first three months of the year, he said they showed that "new leadership" was required to get the economy "moving".
"It is part of a set of disappointing economic data this week which shows Gordon Brown's economic policies are not working."
At a press conference in London, the prime minister acknowledged it had been a "difficult few months" for the economy.
He said he had anticipated the dip in growth, attributing it to the poor weather in January and February, the end of last year's temporary reduction in VAT and the weakness of European economies.
'Sticking with it'
But he said Labour investment in training, employment and the car scrappage scheme had prevented the situation from being worse and rivals' policies would threaten jobs at this "fragile and uncertain time".
"As our economic growth figures make clear, the recovery is definitely under way," he said.
"If you vote for the Conservatives or Liberal Democrats, you are putting this recovery at risk." "We are prepared to stick with it. We are prepared to make sure there are sufficient resources in the economy and ensure there is recovery and not recession."
The Lib Dems said Labour had failed to get tough on the banks to ensure credit was available to struggling firms while the Tories would remove support for the economy when it still needed it.
"These figures show that the promised recovery is barely visible," said their Treasury spokesman Vince Cable.
"There is a real danger of the UK going into a double-dip recession."
The BBC's Economics Correspondent Hugh Pym said all the parties would use the figures to back up their central economic arguments.
The economy is likely to take centre stage in the election campaign next week ahead of the final prime ministerial TV debate between Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg, focusing on the issue.
In Thursday's second debate, the three party leaders said each others' tax and spending policies posed a risk to the recovery.This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.