UK GDP rate only grew 0.1% in last three months of 2025 despite Rachel Reeves’s attempts to bolster economy

It comes after previous figures from the ONS showed that the economy contracted by 0.1 per cent in October and then expanded by 0.3 per cent in November as the manufacturing sector was boosted by recovering production at Jaguar Land Rover after its major cyber attack.

However, the ONS revised its GDP rate figure down from 0.3 per cent to 0.2 per cent in another blow to the Chancellor’s efforts.

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ONS

There was no reported growth in the services sector, while production jumped by 1.2 per cent in the last three months of 2025, based on the latest figures of last year.

Concerningly, the construction contracted by around 2.1 per cent over the period, which is likely to be a blow to Labour’s promise to build more houses to address the property crisis.

Liz McKewon, the director of economic statistics at the ONS, said: “The economy continued to grow slowly in the last three months of the year, with the growth rate unchanged from the previous quarter.

“The often-dominant services sector showed no growth, with the main driver instead coming from manufacturing. Construction, meanwhile, registered its worst performance in more than four years.

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“The rate of growth across 2025 as a whole was up slightly on the previous year, with growth seen in all main sectors. Initial estimates show GDP per head was up on the previous year despite it contracting slightly in each of the last two quarters.”

Responding to the latest GDP figures, Daisy Cooper MP, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson, said: “Two anti-growth Budgets have killed off the economic recovery that our country so desperately needs.

“Our plans for a new Department for Growth would give government a laser-like mission to Get Britain Growing Again and end the cost of living crisis.”