RECESSION: IT'S STILL GETTING WORSE

The latest gross domestic product (GDP) figures show our economy is still contracting - six months after most major economies emerged from the crisis. 

The revised figures confirm that the UK economy shrank by another 0.3 per cent between July and September.

Meanwhile, France, Germany, Japan and the United States have all enjoyed and sustained upturn in output - making a farce of Gordon Brown's claim that the UK was "best placed" to recover from the credit crunch.

Today's figures also mean the British economy has got smaller for six quarters in a row - making it the longest recession on record.

Economy: The US have already enjoyed an upturn in output

Tory leader David Cameron said Labour was incapable of getting Britain out of recession because it had run out of money and ideas.

He added: "For Labour getting the economy growing is all about government action and big public spending.

"It's not big government that will drive us out of this recession and into a sustainable recovery.

"If we win the election, we will send the message out loud and clear: if you want to set up a business, make an investment, employ new people, then we are on your side.

"We will be unashamedly pro-enterprise and pro-wealth creation."

Today's figures updated an initial report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which estimated an even bigger 0.4 per cent fall in output - but the manufacturing and service sectors have since improved marginally.
 
But overall production slumped further than previously thought, driven by lower oil and gas extraction.

The ONS said household expenditure was broadly unchanged from the level of the previous quarter.

Experts forecast that the UK will at last begin its recovery from recession in the final quarter of this year.