BBC News - UK's economic growth revised up

Construction output did not fall as much as previously estimated, the ONS said.

The UK economy grew faster than previously estimated in the first three months of the year, figures have shown.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy grew by 0.4% in the quarter, compared with an earlier estimate of 0.3%.

Growth was boosted by a better performance from the construction industry than previously estimated.

On an annual basis, the economy grew by 2.9% from the first quarter of 2014, up from a previous estimate of 2.4%.

The latest revision is the third estimate for the period.

For 2014 as a whole, economic growth was revised up to 3% from 2.8%.

The ONS figures showed household disposable income grew by 4.5% year-on-year, the fastest annual pace since the second quarter of 2001.

Earlier this month, the ONS said construction output in the UK was 0.2% lower in the first quarter, rather than 1.1% lower as previously estimated.

"The slight upward revision to growth in the first quarter of 2015 is down largely to the recently announced new methods to measure construction output," ONS chief economist Joe Grice said.

Quarterly growth in services output was left unrevised at 0.4%.

Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, forecast economic growth would accelerate in the three months to June as the uncertainty caused by the general election in May subsided.

He said he expected the economy to grow by 0.7% in the second quarter and by 2.5% over the course of the year.