The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) released its estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) for the U.K. on Wednesday. The GDP estimate rose by 0.4% in three months to January, after a 0.5% growth in three months to December. December's figure was revised down from a 0.6% rise.

A softer growth was driven by a weakness in the production sector.

According to the NIESR, the U.K. economy is expected to expand 2.3% in 2016 and 2.7% in 2017.

"Despite our estimates indicating a subdued start to 2016, we do expect the economy to grow by 2.3 per cent this year, primarily driven by consumer spending. However, negative contributions from net trade are expected to weigh heavily on growth. There exist a number of downside risks that have the potential to exacerbate this, should they materialise," James Warren, NIESR Research Fellow, said.