Tories have only themselves to blame for slow growth, says Reynolds

Slowing GDP growth shows the “failures of the Tories’ economic approach” says Jonathan Reynolds.

Responding to the news that GDP growth slowed to 0.5 percent from 0.7 percent in the last quarter, the shadow treasury minster said that these numbers cannot simply be blamed on Brexit but on the failings of six years of Conservative economic policy.

Reynolds highlighted the manufacturing sector which shows “little sign of benefiting from lower sterling” value.

“As the leaked document from earlier this week showed, the Government can’t blame the Brexit vote for problems that were already there before it. Labour has consistently called for increased investment underpinned by our fiscal credibility rule, so that we can prepare our economy for any downturn from the Tories’ chaotic handling of Brexit.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said that the figures “show there’s no room for complacency. British manufacturing is still struggling, and now faces real uncertainty following the vote to leave the EU.”

She called for investment from the government and action in the autumn statement “to boost Britain’s jobs and wages”

“This means investing in infrastructure like roads, rail and homes, and raising the national minimum wage.”

The figures demonstrate the economy outperforming slightly the 0.3 percent expectation for post-Brexit Britain.

These GDP figures come a day after the release of new economic confidence figures, revealing a general disappointment. The Public Perceptions of the Economy (PPE)  trackers were started in 2015, and the latest results show economic confidence to be at a new low.

Confidence is down 39 points on last October, and down 28 points since September.  National economic optimism, the public’s view on how the economy will perform in the next twelve months, is at -37 percent. People’s optimism on how their own finances will perform in the next twelve months is also down, at -20 percent, also the lowest since records began.

Confidence in the chancellor to manage the economy is at -20 percent, whereas the Shadow Chancellor’s McDonnell is at -35 percent.