STORY: Britain's economy shrank unexpectedly in the three months to October.
And lost momentum in the fraught run-up to finance minister Rachel Reeves' budget.
Data released Friday (December 12) showed gross domestic product contracted by 0.1% in the August-to-October period.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a flat reading.
In October alone, the economy contracted by 0.1%, against forecasts for a 0.1% rise.
It underlined the tough economic backdrop faced by Reeves when she prepared her tax-raising budget, announced last month.
That was after several weeks of speculation that had bamboozled investors, consumers and businesses.
Sterling fell slightly against the U.S. dollar and British government bond prices rose after Friday's data.
It casts doubt on the Bank of England's expectation that the economy will grow by around 0.3% in the fourth quarter as a whole.
Manufacturing output, impaired in September by a cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover, failed to recover as economists had hoped.
And the Office of National Statistics said retailers in particular had struggled.
In response to the data, the finance ministry said it was determined to defy the forecasts on growth and create good jobs.
