HOUSEHOLD spending growth accelerated to 0.6 per cent in the third quarter from 0.2 per cent in the previous three months, as car purchases regained momentum, official figures show.

However, the data from the Office for National Statistics confirmed UK gross domestic product had increased by only 0.4 per cent in the third quarter as exports fell and business investment growth slowed to a crawl.

The ONS attributed the pattern of consumers’ spending on cars partly to changes in vehicle tax.

It said: “The path of quarterly growth in household spending through the first three quarters of 2017 was in part driven by changes in the timing of car purchases in response to increases in vehicle excise duty on high-polluting vehicles, which came into force in April 2017.

“These changes led to consumers bringing forward planned new car purchases, leading to a decline in quarter two and since then we have seen a modest recovery to expenditure on transport, including motor cars, into quarter three.”

Household spending had grown by 0.4 per cent in the first quarter.

A 0.7 per cent drop in exports and a 1.1 per cent jump in imports between the second and third quarters meant net trade exerted a 0.5 percentage-point drag on GDP growth.

And business investment growth slowed to 0.2 per cent in the third quarter, from 0.5 per cent in the preceding three months.

A Confederation of British Industry survey yesterday signalled solid year-on-year growth in retail sales volumes in November, after a plunge in October. But retail employment fell over the last year, the survey shows.