The economy grew in February

According to official statisticians from the Office for National Statistics the UK is moving away from the recession and in February the gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated to grow to 0.1%.

The ONS revised the previous estimate of 0.2% to 0.3% growth in January.

Overall growth in production sector rose by 1.1% in February compared to the previous month which saw a 0.3% fall.

In February the construction industry saw output fall by 1.9% which was dues to bad weather as the month was the wettest since 1836.

“The economy grew slightly in February with widespread growth across manufacturing, particularly in the car sector,” said ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown.

“Services also grew a little with public transport and haulage, and telecommunications having strong months.

“Partially offsetting this there were notable falls across construction as the wet weather hampered many building projects.”

“We are optimistic about the near-term outlook for GDP,” said Rob Wood chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

“Both services and manufacturing have returned to growth this year and the construction sector will likely join them once the rain disruption passes.”

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said: “These figures are a welcome sign that the economy is turning a corner, and we can build on this progress if we stick to our plan.”

Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “After 14 years of Conservative economic failure, Britain is worse off with low growth and high taxes. The Conservatives cannot fix the economy because they are the reason it is broken.”