LONDON: David Cameron has acknowledged that the economy is performing in a “less exciting” way than it did last year after Britain suffered a sharper-than-expected slowdown in the first quarter.
The prime minister said the recovery could not be taken for granted after the latest official figures showed the economy grew by just 0.3% between January and March, half the rate of the previous quarter. Economists were expecting growth of 0.5%.
Speaking in Enfield, north London, the prime minister used the figures to warn that a Labour government would put the economic recovery at risk.
Our economy is growing; growing at a rate that many other European countries frankly would give their eye teeth for,” he said.
But they remind us, a timely reminder, that you cannot take recovery for granted. You take your eye off the ball on reducing the deficit, that would be bad for growth; you take your eye off the ball in being pro-business that would damage growth.”
The GDP figures were released at an awkward time for the Tories who have devoted the last full week of their election campaign to the economy. But the prime minister sought to make a virtue of the timing by saying the figures showed the danger of voting for “instability”.
These figures demonstrate that you’ve got insecurity and instability all over the world, including on our doorstep in Europe,” he said. “So I would say to people: given that, don’t vote for instability and insecurity here at home. Stick to the plan that is delivering the growth, delivering the jobs.”
It was the slowest rate of quarterly growth since the end of 2012 when there were fears Britain would tip back into recession.
