Industrial production in the UK fell 1.1 per cent in December from the previous month, resulting in the worst Q4 performance in three years, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The main driver of this decrease was a 5.4 per cent fall in electricity and gas production, which was a result of the unseasonably warm winter weather in 2015, reports Sky News.

Manufacturing output also fell during this time, reporting a 1.7 per cent year-on-year decrease in December, which marked the biggest gap in the annual trade deficit for the past five years.

Chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight Howard Archer said: "December's sharp drop in industrial production will fuel concerns about the UK economic outlook, as well as the unbalanced nature of growth."

He added that "manufacturers will be concerned that the current increasingly fraught-looking global economic outlook will weigh down on export orders".