UK economy grew by 0.3% in November, beating forecasts

The UK economy grew by a faster-than-expected 0.3% in November after car production rebounded and the services sector got a boost.

Growth was driven by an increase in industrial output, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, helped by the return to production at Jaguar Land Rover’s facilities following the cyber-attack at the carmaker.

With the Budget on 26 November, there was also an increase in services, particularly in activities such as accounting and tax consultancy.

Economists welcomed the better-than-expected November figure, but said growth was set to remain moderate.

Suren Thiru, economics director at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, said the “unexpectedly upbeat” November figures suggested that most sectors had “seemingly shrugged off pre-Budget uncertainty”.

“November’s uptick means it’s inevitable that the UK economy grew modestly across the final quarter of 2025 with easing uncertainty post-Budget likely to have supported growth in December, despite the ‘super flu’ disrupting activity in sectors like education,” he said.

November’s growth figure was stronger than analysts’ expectations of a 0.1% increase, and followed a 0.1% contraction in October.

The ONS also revised September’s growth figure up to 0.1%, from a previous estimate of a fall of 0.1%.

The monthly GDP figures are more volatile than the rolling three-month data, which is considered to give a better underlying picture of growth.

In the three months to November the economy grew by 0.1% compared with the previous three months, the ONS said.

Part of November’s rebound came from the continued pick up in Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) production, which drove the 25.5% increase in motor vehicle output in November.

JLR was forced to halt production at its plants across the UK for the whole of September, following a cyber-attack. Production began to resume in a staged manner from October.

A Treasury spokesperson said the government was making the economy “work for working people” by “reversing years of underinvestment” in infrastructure as well as putting through planning reform.

The spokesperson said the government was working to get bills and inflation down, but acknowledged there was still more to do to tackle the cost of living.

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride said the figures showed economic growth was “still flatlining”.

“The chancellor promised growth as her number one mission, but a failure to grip the benefits bills – and instead putting up taxes – is weighing heavily on business and the economy,” he said.