Britain’s overall production output increased slightly in May despite decreases in three of the four main sectors, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Following surprising rates of growth in the previous two months, May saw manufacturing output - the largest component of production - fall by 0.5 per cent month-on-month.

This was half as severe as the one per cent decrease predicted by economists and left May with the strongest year-on-year growth since late 2014 (1.7 per cent). It also made May the second month of expansion in more than a year.

Manufacturing’s drop was blamed largely on the basic pharmaceutical sector, which suffered a 6.5 per cent decrease to production.

Publishing May’s results, the ONS said: “Throughout the previous 12 months, manufacturing experienced alternating periods of expansion and contraction, which have resulted in current manufacturing levels being 1.7 per cent higher than those recorded in May 2015.”