THREE business surveys DEFY Brexit uncertainty in more crushing blows to fear mongering
THREE business surveys have revealed strong economic growth during the final month of 2016 in a crushing blow to Remoaners' fear mongering over Brexit.
PMI data initially pointed to a sharp contraction in July following Brexit
The construction industry found orders had increased the most in 11 months, while the services sector saw the highest rate of activity in nearly 18 months.
And a manufacturing sector survey found activity was even growing at its fastest pace for two-and-a-half years.
The new figures may come as a shock to Remain campaigners, who used scare tactics ahead of last year's June 23 referendum to warn of a potential economic crash if the UK votes to leave the European Union.
But instead, data has continued to reveal healthy growth across Britain in a victory for Brexiteers.
Manufacturing grew at its fastest pace for two-and-a-half years
Liz Martin, UK economist at HSBC, said: "While the UK may have benefited from a cyclical uptick in the global economy, the purchasing managers' indices (PMIs) were strong worldwide in December.
"This is even so a very strong reading, given the Brexit-related uncertainty."
The PMI figures are believed to be slightly at odds with the recent data from the Office of National Statistics, which found that while the services sector continued to grow, manufacturing contracted by 0.9 per cent as construction shrank by 0.6 per cent.
Orders in the construction industry increased the most in 11 months
Yet these statistics only go up as far as October, with the November and December results not yet having been released.
All three PMI surveys, which are answered by managers in all three sectors, for December have now been published.
Chris Williamson, an economist at OHS Markit which produces the surveys, said: "In normal circumstances where nothing unusual happens, the PMIs have been a reliable indicator for GDP."
He added the results tend to have an unusually high correlation with economic growth although this has failed to be the case on three occasions - when Olympic ticket sales boosted spending, during the Queen's diamond jubilee and during heavy snowfall one December.
In normal circumstances where nothing unusual happens, the PMIs have been a reliable indicator for GDP
The PMI data initially pointed to a sharp contraction in July following the Brexit vote.
But when the official data was released, this was not the case.
Now recent surveys have suggested the UK economy is going into the New Year with significant momentum, after growth continued to expand towards the end of 2016.
The new figures may come as a shock to Remain campaigners
However they also report rising costs for businesses because commodity prices have gone up and the pound has weakened.
In turn, this could be passed onto consumers as higher prices.
Simon Kirby, from the National Institute for Economic and Social Research said: "There's always the question of what we mean by Brexit and what timeframe we're talking about."