The UK economy shrank by 0.5 per cent, more sharply than expected in the three months to September, official data released on Friday showed – the first official confirmation that the UK is entering a recession.

It was the first decline in output since 1992 and the biggest single drop in any quarter since 1990. Weaker service industries, construction and production output drove the deceleration in growth, the Office for National Statistics said. Manufacturing made the single largest contribution to the slowdown, falling 1.0 per cent in the quarter.