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Good morning and welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog.
How big of a win was yesterday for Rachel Reeves?
The economy grew 0.3 per cent in November – faster than expected – as Jaguar Land Rover roared back to life following a costly cyberattack that halted supply chains across the UK.
But while this marked a major boost to the economy, the three months ending at the end of November still limped on at a sluggish 0.1 per cent.
“November’s unexpectedly strong rebound was boosted by some one-off factors, which won’t be repeated in December,” Thomas Pugh, chief economist at RSM UK, said.
Ruth Gregory, deputy chief economist at Capital Economics shared this view: “We think November’s strength is more likely to be a rebound rather than a sign that the economy is fundamentally stronger than we thought,” she said.
Though the figures still marked some sigh of relief, coming from a month that was rocked by scandal ahead of the Autumn Budget as the Treasury leaking bonanza ramped with the income tax U-turn.
When the Budget arrived it provided another growth headache with the Office for Budget Responsibility downgrading the UK’s growth forecasts every year from 2026 til 2030.
It came after the fiscal watchdog found the measures proposed in the Budget would do little to drive growth.
Still, Reeves will be able to take some rejoice in the new figures beating expectations – and that came ahead of what might be another welcome present (or distraction) for the Labour government with the scandalous defection of shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick to Reform.
Here’s a few of our top stories from yesterday
- Robert Jenrick defects to Reform after sacking from ‘rotten’ Tories
- Gary’s Economics predictions are unravelling
- UK economy grows more than expected but remains ‘fundamentally weak’
- Why does no one want to buy Costa Coffee?
- Revolut, Mastercard, Visa lose legal battle over card fees cap