UK Economic Growth Disappoints in Q3 as Jaguar Land Rover Cyberattack Hits

  • Britain's economy barely expanded in the third quarter of 2025 (Q3 2025), held back by September's cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), according to data on Thursday, November 13, 2025, that underlined the backdrop of slow growth as finance minister Rachel Reeves readies her budget.
  • The economy grew 0.1% in Q3 2025, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) noted, slowing from a growth of 0.3% in Q2. Economists polled by Reuters, as well as the Bank of England, had forecast 0.2% growth in GDP for the July-September period. In September alone, the economy contracted by 0.1%, against expectations for a flat reading.
  • The ONS reported a 28.6% collapse in the production of motor vehicles in September, the biggest drop since April 2020 during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, motor vehicles subtracted 0.17 percentage points from GDP growth in September alone and 0.06 percentage points for the third quarter as a whole.
  • JLR, owned by India's Tata Motors, has three factories in Britain, which together produce about 1,000 cars per day. The hack cost the British economy an estimated 1.9 billion pounds (US$2.55Bn) and affected over 5,000 organisations, an independent cybersecurity body said in a report published last month.
  • That said, given the minute increase in Q3 2025’s GDP, investors further ramped up bets that the Bank of England will cut interest rates next month, now seen as a roughly 82% chance from a 60% chance earlier this week, according to market pricing. The pound rose modestly against the dollar after the data.
  • The readings are unlikely to sway deliberations around Reeves' November 26 budget, with the economy still growing tepidly despite the government's intention to "kickstart" it. "The UK's unrelentingly sluggish growth trajectory is a headache for the Chancellor (finance minister) as it will inevitably mean a substantial fiscal shortfall at the budget, making major tax hikes look unavoidable," said Suren Thiru, economics director at the ICAEW trade body for chartered accountants.

(Source: Reuters)