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The Office for National Statistics estimated that UK real gross domestic product increased 0.4% in July following a 0.3% rise in June and no growth in May. The three months to July also showed 0.4% growth compared with the previous three-month period. Britain’s output stood 1.6% higher than in July a year earlier, marking the fastest annual pace since February 2025. The statistics office attributed the latest performance to strength in the services sector that more than offset other pressures.
Services output climbed 0.4% in July with information and communication activities rising 2.4%, according to the Office for National Statistics. Computer programming, consultancy and related services jumped 3.5% on the month, extending gains from earlier in the summer. The statistics office noted that many of the businesses reporting the largest turnover increases were involved in artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Production rose 0.2% while construction edged up 0.1% over the same period.
The first half of 2026 delivered 1% growth for the UK, the strongest among Group of Seven economies, the Office for National Statistics data show. Revisions lifted four-quarter growth to the second quarter of 2026 to 1.4%. Gross fixed capital formation advanced 1.2% in the April-to-June period with higher spending on information and communication technology equipment providing much of the lift.
Office for National Statistics director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said evidence indicated businesses involved with artificial intelligence and related technologies had supported the sector across recent months. “Looking at the latest month, services also drove growth in July, with computer programming again making the largest contribution,” McKeown stated. She added that warm weather and the men’s soccer World Cup had influenced activity, though effects differed across industries.
Chancellor John Healey said the economy was “demonstrating a welcome resilience, despite serious global uncertainty.” Deutsche Bank raised its third-quarter growth projection to 0.4% from 0.1% after reviewing the figures, citing sustained AI momentum in services. Analysts at the bank highlighted improving UK productivity trends linked to these developments.
A separate Office for National Statistics survey placed the share of businesses using some form of artificial intelligence at 25% in late 2025, up 15 percentage points from when the question was first posed in 2023. Larger companies with 250 or more employees showed a 44% adoption rate. The statistics office reported that 15% of all businesses planned to adopt AI technologies within the following three months at that time.
