Britain will be the fastest growing economy in the G7 and beat Bank of England forecasts with 0.5% economic growth in the final quarter of 2016, The Times reports today under the headline “Economy to defy Brexit fears”. A survey of businesses showed the service sector had its best month since January. Of course according to the times this is #DespiteBrexit:

“The country’s dominant service sector has experienced its best month since January, the survey of businesses showed, defying fears of a slump in growth after the Brexit vote.”

New retail sales figures from British Retail Consortium report that sales rose by 1.3% in November, following better-than-expected services PMI data. Barclaycard says consumer spending rose 5.1% last month, the second highest rate since the survey began (H/T @afneil). More good news…