Britain's economy beats forecasts with 0.6% growth in the last quarter - as it happened

UK defies downturn fears thanks to another strong performance by service sector firms, but economists fear a slowdown in 2017
Summary: UK GDP better than expectedService sector grows 0.8%, construction and production lagEconomists predict slowdown this yearHammond: UK economy remains resilientListen: Robert Kennedy on GDP’s shortcomings 5.48pm GMTIn the US the Dow Jones Industrial Average may have continued to head higher in early trading following Wednesday’s long-awaited breach of