According to a study by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) the UK economy contracted by -0.4% between July and September 2009 and overall by -5.9% in the last year, despite some analysts predicting growth in that period.

It was expected that the ONS figures would show an increase of +0.2% after Chancellor Alistair Darling had all but predicted the slump was over, but it appears that due to recent figures showing a -2.5% decline in industrial output in August and no growth in retails sales, the increase hasn’t happened.

This has resulted in UK gross domestic product (GDP) contracting over the last six quarters for the first time since quarterly figures were first recorded in 1955. As a result of this decrease the opposing parties have stated that the study casts serious doubts on the Government’s rescue plans.

The services sector appears to have been the key factor for the unexpected decline with analysts stating that the worse-than-expected GDP figures may prompt the Bank of England (BoE) to consider extending its policy of quantitative easing.