UK economy grows at fastest rate for more than two years

The UK economy grew at its fastest rate for more than two years in the three months to September.

Between July and September, the economy expanded by 0.7%, accelerating from the previous three months, official figures show.

The robust growth suggests a far more resilient economy than expected over the summer, despite the impact of higher energy prices from the Iran war.

Strong growth in the services sector – the largest part of the economy, which includes non-physical goods such as consultancy services and computer programming as well as hotels and restaurants – helped boost the numbers.

Within services, computer programming registered its fastest growth for the past three years, helped by cloud computing and AI-linked spending.

The boost from computer programming and consultancy services has been the biggest driver of growth so far this year.

Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the Office for National Statistics, said it was “possible growth could have been even stronger” if there hadn’t been a war in the Middle East.

But he says households may still not feel better off, and that prices might soon start to rise more quickly than wages.

However, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the figures were “welcome news”.

“Despite a year where events around the world have pushed up costs here at home, our economy is growing, bringing hope for the future,” he said.

Chancellor John Healey told the BBC the figures showed a “remarkable resilience” in the face of global conflicts, and hopes they “bring back confidence in Britain”.

Asked about how government decisions could be the reason for growth when AI investment has been a main driver, Healey said ministers can always “help or hinder” business confidence and investments.

Although investors have recently been concerned about slower artificial intelligence development in the US and the long term viability of AI firms’ business models, businesses have continued to invest in the technologies.

Sarah Coles, from investment platform AJ Bell, said that since the start of the year, “it’s the less visible back-office work that has delivered, with administrative and supportive services seeing strong growth” noting that these are the areas benefitting from the increasing use of AI.

The latest figures put the UK on course to be the second fastest growing economy across the major G7 countries which also includes Canada, Japan, Germany, Italy and France.

However, Jake Finney, senior economist at consultancy PwC, cautioned that growth was likely to slow over the coming months “unless energy markets stabilise”.

A sharp rise in energy bills is forecast for January, which is likely to hit consumer spending and confidence, he said.

High energy costs have been stoked by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

US and Israeli attacks led to Iran blocking the Strait of Hormuz – a vital shipping route for the world’s oil and gas.

Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine have been attacking each other’s oil refineries, leading to a squeeze on global refining capacity, hitting diesel and petrol prices.

Richard Benc, founder of mechanical watch company Studio Underdog, says sales are better than he expected.

“We’ve seen more resilience than we had forecast for and expected. We are still projecting growth this year,” he says.

The business exports about 80% of its watches. “We’ve seen a surprising amount of resilience, particularly from our US customers,” he adds, although some UK customers are now taking longer to buy watches.