UK economy shrank less than first feared

The UK economy shrank less than first feared in the second quarter of this year, after the Office for National Statistics published revised figures that put the contraction at 0.5% rather than 0.7%.

However, the economy has still shrunk for three consecutive quarters, meaning the remains in recession.

The move followed revised construction output figures, released earlier this month, that showed construction output fell 3.9% in the second quarter of this year compared to the first quarter, marginally less than 5.2% first stated.

At the time, analysts predicted the upwards revision of the construction output figures could lead to a slight revision upwards of the 0.7% contraction in overall GDP figure, which was the biggest fall in quarterly UK economic output since the first three months of 2009.