The UK manufacturing industry continued to decline in June despite improving its performance in the run-up to Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

The Office for National Statistics said manufacturing output fell by 0.3 per cent, stepping up from a 0.6 per cent contraction in May but slightly below economists' expectations of a 0.2 per cent drop.

It said month-on-month growth was pegged back by a 1 per cent drop in transport equipment and contractions from nine of the industry's 13 sub-sectors.

However, activity in industrial production painted a brighter picture, rising 0.1 per cent month-on-month compared with a 0.6 per cent fall in May.

It also recorded its strongest performance since 1999 in the three months to June.

Industrial output rose 2.1 per cent over the period, compared with a 0.2 per cent fall the quarter before, remaining in line with last month's data for gross domestic product (GDP).

The swing helped UK GDP reach a higher-than-expected 0.6 per cent in the second quarter, up from 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2016.

Andrzej Szczepaniak, UK economist at Barclays, said the positive growth from industrial production was likely to be short-lived after the referendum result.

He added: "Overall, we remain of the view that UK industrial production and manufacturing remains a cause for concern; we believe this is driven by a structural lack of competitiveness as well as Government policies (including the national living wage as well as the impending apprenticeship levy), only to be amplified by prolonged uncertainty regarding the UK and its trading relationships with the EU and the rest of the world."

A string of lacklustre surveys have pointed to a marked slowdown in the UK economy following the Brexit vote.

The closely watched Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing purchasing managers' index showed that the manufacturing industry slumped to its lowest level in more than three years in July, hitting 48.2, down from 52.4 in June.

The Bank of England took action last week in a bid to ward off a recession by slashing interest rates to 0.25 per cent for the first time since 2009 and delivering an emergency package worth up to £170 billion.

The manufacturing update pushed the pound lower, falling 0.38 per cent in morning trading to 1.29 US dollars. Sterling was also down to 1.17 euros, falling 0.31 per cent.