GDP growth slows in further sign of shaky economy
Commenting on the latest GDP figures released today (Wednesday, 26 July), the leader of the country's biggest union, Unite, said that Tory claims to economic competency ‘are truly in tatters' now.
In the first quarter of 2017, GDP shrank to 0.3 per cent compared to the 0.7 per cent over the same period in 2016.
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said:
“Conservative claims to be the party of economic competency are laughable now. Their credibility is in tatters as the economy shrinks, kept afloat by high street spending and, very worryingly, booming personal debt.
“The Tories cannot keep pulling at the same busted lever, austerity. Surely the repeated gloomy news on the economy has meant that the penny is dropping? You cannot cut your way to growth.
“They must change gear. Bring forward plans - and cash - to repair the damage that they have done to the economy and our public services, and to put some money in the wages of the workers. Working people, remember, do not hoard their cash in offshore accounts. They spend it. They are the motor of the economy. It is high time that the government grasped this basic fact and helped and acted to make work pay again in this country.”
