Britain's economy ground to a halt at the end of last year, according to the latest information.

Revised figures from the Office for National Statistics show that gross domestic product was unchanged in the fourth quarter of 2001, a downward revision from the previous estimate of 0.2 per cent growth.

Britain's GDP was just 1.7 per cent higher than in the same quarter of 2000, the worst rate of growth since the second quarter of 1999.

The ONS said that output in production industries fell by 2.1 per cent, with manufacturing declining by 1.7 per cent.

But indicating that the "two-speed economy" remains, the figures showed that output in the services industries rose by 0.7 per cent.

The statistics, which were worse than City analysts had expected, indicate that while the global economic slowdown has hit manufacturing worse, the domestic service sector is also being increasingly hit.