Responding to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's speech to
Conservative party conference, Shadow Chief Secretary to the
Treasury said:
“The Chancellor is in denial about the scale of the economic
crisis he has overseen, and today’s speech shows he has no plan
or will to tackle it.
“Rishi Sunak has overseen the worst economic crisis in the G7,
with our economy shrinking by 9.9% in 2020, deeper than Italy
(8.9%), and France (7.8%) – and our recovery still further away
than any other G7 economy.
“Instead of putting forward a plan to boost our economy and
invest in the skills we need and the challenges we need to face,
he’s pretending there’s no work to be done.
“Labour will tax fairly, spend wisely and grow our economy.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
- According to OECD forecasts for growth across the whole of
2021, 2021 GDP will still be 3.8% off our 2019 GDP level – this
will be further away from full recovering 2019 GDP than any other
G7 economy
- Even by the end of 2022, the UK economy will only be 1.2%
larger than it was in 2019, whereas the USA will be 6.4% bigger,
Canada 3.9% bigger and Germany 2.7% bigger
- International and UK economic policy makers are concerned
that moves like the £20 cut in UC will slow the recovery:
- OECD quote (link): “Fiscal
policies should remain flexible and contingent on the state of
the economy. A premature and abrupt withdrawal of policy
support should be avoided whilst the near-term outlook is still
uncertain.”
- Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey (link): “At the
moment we’re seeing some levelling off of the recovery, the
short-term indicators are suggesting that”
- The Conservatives have missed every debt and deficit target
they've ever put down. Public debt rose 20 percentage points in
the 10 years of Conservative management before the pandemic.
