David Cameron has warned voters not to take Britain’s economic recovery for granted when they go to the polls on May 7 as the latest official figures showed the pace of growth slowing.
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Labour seized on the worse than expected figures from the Office for National Statistics – showing growth in the first three months of the year dropped to just 0.3% – to say that the Government’s claims to have “fixed” the economy were wrong.
But on a campaign visit to a factory in north London, Mr Cameron insisted the slowdown underlined the need to stick with the Government’s economic plan.
“They show that we cannot take recovery for granted, we can’t take our growth for granted,” he said.
“While you see insecurity and instability all over the world causing us difficulties, don’t vote for instability here in Britain.”
With nine days to go to polling day, he said that a Labour government led by Ed Miliband committed to increasing tax and spending while imposing new regulation on business could bring the recovery “juddering to a halt”.
“All of this, in my view, is at risk in nine days time. With me you know what you get, you keep the plan, you keep the growth, you keep the jobs, you keep the security. With him what are you going to get?” he said.
“If he goes on a borrowing spree interest rates will go up and that will hit businesses, that will hit families. If he goes on a spending spree taxes will go up, that will hit businesses, that will hit families. If he goes on a regulation spree that will stop investment, that could bring our economy to a juddering halt.”
The ONS figures show the pace of gross domestic product (GDP) growth was half the 0.6% rate in the final three months of 2014, and represented the weakest quarterly rate of growth since the end of 2012.
For the Liberal Democrats, Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander insisted the economy was continuing to make progress but that more needed to be done.
“The British economy is recovering well, but these figures remind us that there is still work to do to secure the recovery,” he said.
“Though volatile construction data shows a big dip, the underlying figures show that we are still making solid progress across the wider economy.”
However, shadow chancellor Ed Balls said the figures underlined that most people were still not seeing the benefits of the recovery.
“While the Tories have spent months patting themselves on the back, these figures show they have not fixed the economy for working families,” he said.
“Tory economic policy may be helping a few at the top but for most people bills have gone up faster than wages, which are down £1,600 a year since 2010, and now these disappointing figures show economic growth slowing down too.
“The risk to families and our economy is a re-elected Tory government doubling the pace of spending cuts next year and taking Britain out of the EU. Working families and our NHS can’t afford five more years of the Tories.”
Earlier Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg set out his latest “red line” demand to the Conservatives and Labour for an emergency budget within 50 days of the election if they want a coalition deal with his party.
He made clear that he would effectively veto Tory plans to cut £12 billion from the welfare budget and impose a timetable on Labour to deal with the deficit.
“Whether we are in government with Labour or the Conservatives, we will pin them down within weeks of the election and force them to put their cards on the table,” he said.
“We will have a stability budget, to take place within 50 days of election day, a pre-condition of any coalition arrangement. There will be no deal if there is no stability.”
In its latest analysis of the parties’ spending plans, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned that average household incomes were set to fall over the next five years, regardless of who was in power.
It said that while the Tories would cut taxes they would also cut benefits, while Labour would protect benefit spending but increase taxes to pay for it. The Lib Dems would plot a middle course.
“With significant deficit reduction still to come, households can expect the tax and benefit changes implemented over the next parliament to reduce their incomes, on average.
“There are large differences between the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats in how they propose to do this.
“But they share a lack of willingness to be clear about the details and an inability to resist the urge for piecemeal changes which would make the overall system less efficient and coherent.”
Mr Balls dismissed Mr Clegg’s “red line” warning on deficit reduction, insisting that a Labour government would not speed up the pace of cuts in order to meet the Lib Dems’ demands.
“What we are not going to do is sign up to faster plans which would end up meaning huge cuts to police or defence or our public services,” he told BBC News.
He added: “He (Mr Clegg) was the guy who came into coalition at the beginning of this parliament and then broke all the promises that he made. I don’t think Nick Clegg’s promises are worth the paper that they are written on.”
Photo from Joe Giddens / PA Wire
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