UK 'far from plunging into recession' as GDP grows by 0.6% in Q4

Up by 2% over the whole year

The UK economy grew by 0.6% between October and December 2016, beating analysts' expectations and bringing the total growth figure for the year to 2%, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The rate of growth for the fourth quarter last year was the same as the previous quarter, showing no evidence of a UK slowdown, fears of which were heightened following the Brexit vote. The figures for the last three months of the year came in slightly above analysts' expectations, who predicted a small slowdown to 0.5%.  Over 2016 as a whole, the economy grew by 2%, though this was lower than the annual growth for the previous year, which stood at 2.2%. Darren Morgan, head of GDP at the ONS, commented: "The initial ONS data show the economy ended 2016 with steady growth of 0.6% fo...