At 07:00 this morning, new figures revealed that UK economic activity expanded in the final three months of 2024. Here's what we learned:

• The UK economy grew by 0.1% between October and December, surpassing forecasts of a 0.1% decline
• In December alone, GDP rose by 0.4%, helped by strong trading at pubs and bars, as well as companies such as machinery manufacturers
• But GDP per head - which takes into account the growing population - fell by 0.1% in the final three months of 2024, and across the year as a whole
• Chancellor Rachel Reeves says that while growth is higher than expected, "I'm still not satisfied"
• And shadow Chancellor Mel Stride says Labour's Budget - which includes a rise in National Insurance for businesses in April - "is killing growth"

We're closing our live coverage now - read our round-up story here. Separately, we also have a new story about Rachel Reeves and her online CV here.

Thanks for joining us.

Peter Ruddick
Business reporter

Sushma Solanki, owner of Bolton catering firm Sushma’s Snacks, says the economic situation remains "very worrying" despite the small uptick in growth announced today.

She tells the BBC that the end of last year was tough. "I normally do about 20 to 30 Christmas office events. Instead, I did two which was very hard."

She says higher costs and government policies were making things difficult. "I had taken on a staff member and I had to let them go because I can’t afford all the National Insurance and all that.

"It's not just the policies, it is everything. The cost of food - peppers for my chicken dish started off at 79p, they are now £1.85."

Looking ahead, she says she is worried. "I personally think something's got to be done. There’s a lot of small businesses that are going to go."

Image source, Getty Images

Some more political reaction now, this time from the Liberal Democrats.

Deputy leader Daisy Cooper says: "The chancellor's Budget has resulted in pitiful economic growth.

"Her complete pig's ear of a jobs tax will hammer small businesses, the backbone of our economy.

"Alongside the government’s baffling refusal to negotiate a bespoke UK-EU Customs Union which would boost British business, the government’s red lines have done nothing but stall our economy. "Growth is the only way to rescue our public services and protect family finances. These woeful figures and the chancellor’s misguided policies will only prolong the misery."

A solid December leads to relief for Reevespublished at 09:24 Greenwich Mean Time

09:24 GMT

Faisal Islam
Economics editor

There was a small pleasant surprise in today’s economic numbers that the chancellor will be hoping might be a turning point.

The basic picture of stagnation still exists, although 0.1% growth in the final three months of last year just about exceeds other G7 European nations.

The new information in this data is, however, all about December. The economy rebounded to strong growth levels of 0.4% - the first expansion in the month of December since 2020.

What does this tell us?

Well, disappointment in growth figures for the second half of last year had been about the loss of momentum despite a rise in real wage growth and cuts tointerest rates.

Business and consumer confidence was hit by the gloomy messaging around the Budget but it tempered growth rather than caused recession.

Rising real wages and falling interest rates are powerful forces in an economy. There may have been more momentum going into this year than assumed, for example, by the Bank of England.

However, despite the December figure, a big cloud remains from the impact of rising National Insurance payments by employers on job creation and business investment.

This is especially seen in sectors such as hospitality which cannot squeeze wage rises because of the increase in minimum wages. Though that policy will also help spending power for those workers.

So while the overall picture from these figures remains sluggish, and avoiding recession is hardly a cause for celebration, December may yet point to a path out of the partly self-inflicted gloom.

Michael Race
Business reporter

Image source, Getty Images

As we reported earlier, the construction sector was estimated to have grown by 0.5% in the final months of 2024.

Looking further into the numbers, a lot of new work in the sector was driven by new private housing projects.

However, repairs and maintenance work from private homes fell over the period, which suggests homeowners cut back.

Figures showed there was also no growth in household expenditure at the end of last year.

Last week, the Bank of England downgraded its outlook for the UK economy.

It predicted that GDP would shrink by 0.1% between October and December, following zero growth in the three months before.

A recession is defined as two back-to-back three month periods of economic contraction.

Today's first estimate of economic growth - a 0.1 increase in the final quarter - shows that the UK has avoided that fate.

But the government will no doubt be hoping it continues to the Bank wrong for this year - it halved its growth forecasts for 2025 from 1.5% to 0.75%.

Image source, PA Media

Here's some more reaction from Chancellor Rachel Reeves, after her earlier remarks.

"The growth numbers have come in higher than many expected, but I'm still not satisfied with the level of growth that our economy is achieving," she says.

"And that's why I am determined to go further and faster in delivering the economic growth and the improvements in living standards that our country deserves.

"We are doing what is necessary to bring stability back to the economy, reforming the economy, the planning system, regulation and pensions to encourage investment in our economy, which is the lifeblood of a successful economy.

"We need to go further and faster in doing that, to turn around our poor growth performance and to make working people better off."

On whether the government may need to cut spending or increase taxes to meet fiscal rules, she says: "The Office of Budget Responsibility will publish their updated forecast on 26 March and I will respond to it then.

"I have been clear that the fiscal rules are non-negotiable, and that's because stability is absolutely essential for returning growth to our economy.

"We've seen three cuts in interest rates since this government took office in July. That's only possible because of the stability that this government have returned to the economy."

Chris Taylor, owner of the Gran T's coffee shop company in Manchester, is surprised at today's figures showing the UK economy grew at the end of 2024.

"Did it? I am very shocked that there has been any form of growth," he tells the BBC.

"Going into last winter was one of the biggest struggles. I think a lot of people were naturally clinging onto their purse strings. Trade was not there."Taylor is also concerned about the year ahead, following measures announced in the Budget.

"This government's action plan, without hitting people directly with higher taxes, is hitting the level above and that effectively is going to hit people one way or another. It is really an indirect punch to the whole economy."I'm not the only one scrambling numbers. This year is only going to make it harder and unfortunately it's going to tip a lot of people into the red."

We're headlining on the UK economy growing by 0.1% in the final quarter of 2024.

But, as we've already reported, GDP per head fell, by 0.1%.

That's because even though economic output grew, so did the UK population.

So once that output is divided by the number of people in the country, GDP per head fell.

A nice birthday present for Rachel Reeves - but there's still anxietypublished at 07:57 Greenwich Mean Time

07:57 GMT

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

Image source, PA Media

There will have been an awful lot of sighs of relief emitted in government when the figures dropped at 7am.

Yes, 0.1% growth is not exactly a bonanza of economic activity. But as far as the politics of this moment is concerned, it’s significantly better than the negative growth many expected.

It enables Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves to make an argument that after a difficult first few months in which they made some highly controversial economic decisions, things are beginning to turn, just about, in the right direction.

It is a nice birthday present for Reeves, who turns 46 today. But there is still significant anxiety in government about some of the difficult economic moments hurtling towards her.

On 26 March, the Office for Budget Responsibility is expected to downgrade its forecasts for the health of the UK economy over the coming years – this could well mean that the chancellor has to announce emergency spending cuts, which would not go down well with many Labour MPs.

And the Treasury is already engaged in tense negotiations with every cabinet ministers to set their departments’ budgets for the next several years.

The UK economy may have grown slightly in the final three months of 2024 - but some economists say there's not much to cheer about, especially with an increase in employers' National Insurance beginning in April.

Capital Economics says that business investment dropped by 3.2% between October (when the Budget was announced) and December. Meanwhile, a dip in employment contributed to flat consumer spending.

In fact, it says, the only areas of growth were government spending and consumption.

"In short, October’s Budget decisions contributed to rising public sector activity, but contributed to falling private sector activity," says Capital's chief UK economist Paul Dales.

Looking ahead, he says that "with business sentiment on the floor and employment declining, it’s hard to see private sector activity improving much" over the first half of 2025.

As a reminder, we're headlining on growth in the final quarter of 2024.

But we also got monthly data this morning, and that shows the UK economy grew by 0.4% in December alone, surpassing pretty poor figures in the previous couple of months.

It was the services sector that lifted activity in December, expanding by 0.4%.

The production industry, which failed to ignite growth in the final three months of 2024, actually performed quite strongly in December, up by 0.5%. This was helped by manufacturing as well as "mining and quarrying".

Construction activity eased in at the end of last year, shrinking by 0.2%. Although the ONS has significantly revised up its figures for November, from 0.4% to 0.6%.

The economy is flatlining - GDP per head is downpublished at 07:31 Greenwich Mean Time

07:31 GMT

Chris Mason
Political editor

The economy is flatlining and, on average as individuals, we are feeling poorer.

That is what this morning’s numbers from the Office for National Statistics tell us.

The economy grew by a smidgen - 0.1% - in the last three months of last year, having not grown at all in the three months before that.

But that is the overall figure.

What about for us as individuals, on average – if you like, our own economy?

What is known as "real GDP per head" – what the ONS says amounts to "the volume of goods and services available to the average person" fell last year, by 0.1% in the last quarter and also by 0.1% across the year as a whole.

In other words, living standards, on average, fell.

I reckon there is a fair chance as you’re reading this you might be shouting "tell me something I don’t know".

Ministers are acutely aware that sentiment - how we feel about our living standards and prices - matters just as much as numbers in a spreadsheet and that sentiment is just as flat.

The economy is wheezy, laggard and limping. The central mission of the government is to do something about it, and so far it is failing.

Critics say its actions – those tax hikes in the Budget – have made things worse. Ministers say its Budget was necessary to right the ship.

What matters now is whether a combination of factors – national and international, government driven and private sector fuelled – can shift things and do so relatively quickly.

That will matter to each of us as individuals, to the communities around us, and to the popularity or otherwise of the government.

It is the central dynamic, the controlling thought, that will shape much of the domestic political narrative in the coming years.

It was down to the services sector and the construction industry, ONS data shows.

Construction is exactly what you expect - things like building new homes - and official figures reveal that activity expanded by 0.5% between October and December.

Services is a huge sector for the UK and includes a wide-range of businesses such as hairdressing, computer repairs to accountants and law firms.

At the end of 2024, services output expanded by 0.2%.

Image source, Getty Images

A bit better than expected - but the economy is still lacklustrepublished at 07:17 Greenwich Mean Time

07:17 GMT

Dharshini David
Chief economics correspondent

Despite the government’s pledge that growth is its top mission, its first six months in office was marked by a lacklustre economy, despite these figures being a bit better than expected.

Take into account population growth, and income per person was slightly lower in 2024 as a whole than 2023.

Many surveys have suggested that Budget measures including the rise in National Insurance contributions weighed on business and consumer confidence, leading to weaker growth than expected just a few months earlier.

In addition, households grappled with higher housing costs - as interest rates remained far higher than in recent years.

The Bank of England recently halved its growth forecast for this year to 0.75% from 1.5%, amid concerns that higher costs for businesses could hit hiring, profits, investment – and push up prices.

Not only could that restrict prospects for households and companies – but it could also constrain the chancellor’s spending ambitions for public services.

Image source, PA Media

And, following those lines from the chancellor, here's the shadow chancellor, the Conservatives' Mel Stride:

"The chancellor promised the fastest growing economy in the G7, but her budget is killing growth.

"Working people and businesses are already paying for her choices with ever rocketing taxes, hundreds of thousands of job cuts and business confidence plummeting.

"It does not need to be this way. Under new leadership, the Conservative Party will continue to oppose Labour’s disastrous decisions and stand up for businesses and working people up and down our country."

We've just got reaction from Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves.

"For too long, politicians have accepted an economy that has failed working people. I won’t.

"After 14 years of flatlining living standards, we are going further and faster through our Plan for Change to put more money in people's pockets.

"That is why we are taking on the blockers to get Britain building again, investing in our roads, rail and energy infrastructure, and removing the barriers that get in the way of businesses who want to expand."

We're headlining on growth in the final quarter of 2024.

But today's figures also show economic activity in the third quarter is unrevised, meaning growth was 0.0% - i.e., the UK economy failed to grow at all.

One thing to bear in mind about today's final quarter figure: these are the first estimates, which means they can still be revised up or down.

The UK economy grew by 0.1% between October and December, official figures show.

Today we'll hear about "GDP" in the final quarter of 2024. But what is it?

GDP stands for gross domestic product, and is a measure of all the economic activity of companies, governments and people in a country.

In the UK, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) publishes new GDP figures every month., external

However, quarterly figures - covering three months at a time - are considered more important.

Most economists, politicians and businesses like to see GDP rising steadily.

That's because it usually means people are spending more, extra jobs are created, more tax is paid and workers get better pay rises.

When GDP is falling, it means the economy is shrinking - which can be bad news for businesses and workers.

If GDP falls for two quarters in a row, that is known as a recession - which can lead to pay freezes and job losses, and is bad news for any government.