The UK's economic slowdown gathered further momentum during the third quarter of the year with growth of just 0.1%, according to an early official estimate that makes for horrific reading for the chancellor.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a surprise contraction for output during September of -0.1% - with some of the downwards pressure being applied by the cyber attack disruption to production at Jaguar Land Rover.
The figures for July-September followed on the back of a downwardly revised 0.2% growth performance over the previous three months and the 0.7% expansion achieved between January and March.
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The encouraging start to 2025 was soon followed by the worst of Donald Trump's trade war salvoes and the implementation of budget measures that placed employers on the hook for £25bn of extra taxes.
Each has been blamed by economists since for pushing up inflation and harming investment and employment.
ONS director of economic statistics, Liz McKeown, said: "Growth slowed further in the third quarter of the year with both services and construction weaker than in the previous period. There was also a further contraction in production.
“Across the quarter as a whole manufacturing drove the weakness in production. There was a particularly marked fall in car production in September, reflecting the impact of a cyber incident, as well as a decline in the often-erratic pharmaceutical industry.
“Services were the main contributor to growth in the latest quarter, with business rental and leasing, live events and retail performing well, partially offset by falls in R&D [research and development] and hair and beauty salons."
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