Britain's economy barely expanded in the third quarter, held back by September's cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover, according to data on Thursday that underlined the backdrop of slow growth as finance minister Rachel Reeves readies her budget.

Despite the fact that ONS figures show London accounts for almost a quarter of the UK economy, the report shows the capital has been in a "stagnant" state since the 2008 financial crisis, and cites housing costs and availability as some of the key factors for its stuttering growth.

Britain's economy will stagnate in 2023 in the face of high inflation, lagging behind its peers, and the government should consider easing up on tax increases or spending more, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said.

The production pause was a large contributor to the contraction in economic growth in September, which a company executive said was "interesting to hear".

Britain's music industry contributed £8 billion ($10.5 billion) to the UK economy in 2024, but the effects of Brexit and AI have clouded the sector's outlook, an industry report showed

Separate data published by the ONS on Thursday showed output per hour worked, a measure of labour productivity, grew at an annual rate of 1.1 per cent in the three months to September. This marked a rebound from a 0.5 per cent contraction in the previous quarter.

It is quite likely that the UK economy will see negative real growth for the foreseeable future. Economic policy is increasingly aimed at redistributing wealth from productive to non-productive areas.