The warm summer boosted spending but consumers later tightened their purse strings and the manufacturing and construction sectors shrank in October Luke MacGregor/ReutersThe British economy stalled in the three months to the end of October following slowdowns in manufacturing and construction. GDP growth in the three months slowed to 0.4 per, down from 0.6 per cent in the third quarter of 2018, reinforcing fears that business is stalling in the face of uncertainty about the terms on which the country will leave the European Union on March 29 next year. According to the ONS, growth was flat in August and September, before rising to a lacklustre 0.1 per cent in October. The headline figure was dragged down by manufacturing, which shrank by 0.9 per cent in October, the sector’s worst performance since March 2016. Construction shrank by 0.2 per cent in October after growing by 1.7 per…

Source: The Times December 10, 2018 12:00 UTC