UK economic growth slowed between July and September compared to the previous quarter, a blow to Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the economy grew by 0.1% in the period, compared to 0.5% growth between April and June.
The estimate was below economists’ forecasts of 0.2% and came after Labour announced increases in public spending and business taxes in last month’s Autumn Budget.
The economy is estimated to have contracted by 0.1 per cent in September 2024 after growing in previous months, mainly due to lower output from factories and IT services.
The quarterly business investment figure rose 1.2 per cent between June and September. Ms. Reeves said:
“Improving economic growth is at the heart of everything I am seeking to achieve, which is why I am not satisfied with these numbers. At my Budget, I took the difficult choices to fix the foundations and stabilise our public finances. Now we are going to deliver growth through investment and reform to create more jobs and more money in people’s pockets, get the NHS back on its feet, rebuild Britain and secure our borders in a decade of national renewal.”
The services sector, which makes up the bulk of the economy, showed no growth in September and grew by just 0.1 per cent over the whole period.
