Britain's Treasury chief Rachel Reeves said Friday that she is "not satisfied" by official figures showing the British economy's rebound from recession slowed down sharply in the third quarter of the year, with most sectors stagnating.
The Office for National Statistics said growth during the July to September period was just 0.1. That was lower than the 0.5 recorded in the previous three-month period and below market expectations for 0.2.
The statistics agency said overall output in September actually shrank, a development that is likely to fuel accusations from critics of the new Labour government that it talked the economy down in its first few weeks in power.
On coming to power in July for the first time in 14 years, the government described its economic inheritance from the former Conservative administration as the bleakest in decades, which required it to take urgent action to fix the public finances. Conservative lawmakers have argued that the "doom and gloom" talk prompted businesses and consumers to hold off their spending decisions until Reeves delivered her budget in late October.
Reeves used the budget to raise taxes sharply, mainly on business, as well as increasing spending on public services, such as the state-run National Health Service, and borrowing on investments.
