ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: “The economy picked up in December after several weak months, meaning, overall, the economy grew a little in the fourth quarter of last year.
Latest official figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reveal that GDP grew by 0.1% % in the final quarter in a boost to Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves who have made delivering growth their top priority.
Some City economists had forecast a small fall in output in the fourth quarter putting the UK on course for a second shallow recession in little more than a year.
The UK suffered a shallow “Rishi recession” in the second half of 2023, its third in 16 years, although growth returned relatively robustly in the first half of 2024.
The ONS figures show that growth was an unexpectedly strong 0.4% in December with the dominant services sector also powering ahead by 0.4%.
