The UK economy grew by 0.5% in February, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The UK economy was predicted to grow by 0.1%, with the figures far higher than predicted.
The figures follows a 0.1% contraction in January – with the growth representing a welcome relief to the government.
Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said: “Within services, computer programming, telecoms and car dealerships all had strong months, while manufacturing electronics and pharmaceuticals led the way and car manufacturing also picked up after its recent poor performance.
“Across the last three months as a whole, the economy also grew strongly with broad-based growth across services and industries.”
The figures show that while services grew 0.3%, production grew 1.5% and construction 0.4%.
It also marks a significant monthly improvement after no growth in January, the ONS added.
The figures come as a surprise boost for Labour and Chancellor Rachel Reeves, after the party made growing the economy its key priority since winning the election last year, but momentum has been slow amid falling consumer confidence and rising inflation.
It comes as the Conservatives claimed the Government still had a “long way to go” on growing the economy.
Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, said: “Since coming to office, Labour’s choices have killed growth stone dead and there is still a long way to go to recover.
“At the emergency budget, the forecasts for growth, inflation and borrowing all moved in the wrong direction because of Labour’s decisions.
“Hardworking families deserve better than a Government crowing about sluggish growth whilst they will be £3,500 worse off because of the jobs tax.”
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