Faster UK growth boosts recovery hopes

The UK’s economic recovery hopes were boosted today when official figures revealed that the pace of growth accelerated faster than expected in the third quarter of 2011.

GDP increased by 0.5% in the three months to the end of September, representing an improvement on the 0.1% rise in the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics revealed. Economists had predicted a figure of between 0.3% and 0.4%.