LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's services sector shrank in November to mark three months without growth for the main driver of the economy, a survey showed on Wednesday as uncertainty over Brexit and an imminent national election weighed.
The IHS Markit/CIPS UK Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell in November to 49.3 from October's 50.0.
The reading was revised higher from a preliminary 48.6, but the index has still not exceeded the 50 threshold for growth since August - the longest such run since 2009.
"Service providers have attributed the recent soft patch to delayed decision-making on new projects until greater clarity emerges in relation to the domestic political landscape," IHS Markit economist Tim Moore said.
The survey added to a string of underwhelming business activity data in the run-up to the Dec. 12 vote. However, the state of the economy has only played a minor role in an election campaign dominated by Britain future relationship with the European Union and promises of increased spending on public services.
The figures suggested the world's fifth-biggest economy is contracting at a quarterly rate of 0.1%, financial data company IHS Markit said, a smaller decline than the 0.2% suggested by November's flash estimate.
The PMIs have overstated economic weakness recently, in part because of higher government spending ahead of Brexit that has not been captured in private-sector measures of demand.
"November's PMI surveys collectively suggest that the UK economy is staggering through the final quarter of 2019, with service sector output falling back into decline after a brief period of stabilization," Moore said.
New orders contracted at the fastest pace since July 2016, the month after Britons narrowly voted in favor of Brexit in a referendum, the PMI showed.
The composite PMI, which combines the services and manufacturing output indexes, fell to 49.3 from 50.0, matching September's 38-month low, but down less than its flash estimate of 48.5.
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