UK economic activity begins to step up a gear

The first estimate of UK GDP for the third quarter of this year shows that the economy’s performance continues to improve. GDP expanded by 0.8%, which follows on from a 0.7% increase in the second quarter and a rise of 0.4% in quarter one.

This marks the first time since 2011 that the economy registered three straight quarters of growth.

The third-quarter GDP figure backs up what the monthly data and survey indicators have been telling us, namely that the pace of UK economic activity is gaining momentum. This comes after a very poor performance last year when the economy failed to grow at all.