Partial construction restarting at the cyber-hit Jaguar Land Rover plant and an uplift in services has led to a surprise return to growth for the UK economy, which expanded 0.3 per cent in November.
Official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show an uplift despite uncertainty heading into the Budget, while revised earlier figures now means the three months to November saw the economy grow 0.1 per cent.
The news is a slight boost to the government, which has made economic growth one of its key goals, but more specifically to businesses primarily working in the services industry.
ONS noted consumer-facing services output increasing by 0.5 per cent in the quarter-year to November, compared with the three months to August. In particular, travel agents and tour operators saw the biggest growth, but retail trade and sport or recreation services also picked up.
“The economy grew slightly in the latest three months, led by growth in the services sector, which performed better in November following a weak October,” explained ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown.
“This was partially offset by a fall in manufacturing, where three-monthly growth was still affected by the cyber incident that impacted car production earlier in the Autumn. However, data for the latest month show that this industry has now largely recovered.
“Construction contracted again, registering its largest three-monthly fall in nearly three years.”
More to follow…
