GDP growth confirmed in three months after Brexit vote

ONS says consumers kept spending and business investment beats forecasts, defying predictions of slowdown

British businesses continued to invest and consumers carried on spending in the months following the Brexit vote, defying predictions that a wave of uncertainty would hit economic activity.

In the first official estimate of how firms' spending fared after the referendum, the Office for National Statistics said business investment rose 0.9% in the July-to-September quarter. That was only a small slowdown from 1% growth in the previous quarter and beat forecasts for 0.6% growth in a Reuters poll of economists. The figures echoed business surveys suggesting companies have shrugged off the shock of the referendum result for now.

Business investment increases by 0.9% (0.4 billion) in Q3 2016 compared with Q2 2016 pic.twitter.com/iTsX4OPjc1

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Q3 #GDP increase led by growing consumer spending, fuelled by rising household incomes https://t.co/idV7bGKXHB