UK economic growth slowed to just 0.1% over the past three months, dealing an unwelcome setback to the Chancellor ahead of the autumn Budget.
New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the economy contracted by 0.1% in September, largely due to disruption in the manufacturing sector following a major cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover.
Across the July-to-September period, GDP rose by only 0.1%, down from the 0.3% expansion recorded between April and June. The performance fell short of economists’ forecasts, which had expected 0.2% growth for the quarter and no decline in September.
The September weakness was driven primarily by a steep drop in motor manufacturing, as JLR suspended factory operations in response to the cyber breach. Overall production output fell by 2% during the month, while car and trailer manufacturing slumped by 28.6% — the sharpest decline since April 2020 during the height of the pandemic.
According to the ONS, the sharp fall in vehicle manufacturing — linked both to the cyber attack and softer demand for commercial vehicles — shaved 0.17 percentage points off GDP for September.
