David Cameron: We beat double-dip recession

FIGURES showing the economy avoided a double-dip recession by returning to growth were welcomed yesterday by David Cameron. He accused Labour of “talking the economy down’’ after the Opposition said it was “flat-lining”.

David Cameron hailed manufacturing and exports growth David Cameron hailed manufacturing and exports growth

He also said his Government’s market-reassuring policies had saved Britain from the crises suffered by nations like Portugal and Greece.

The PM hailed manufacturing and exports growth and the 390,000 increase in private-sector jobs over the year. Growth of 0.5 per cent in Gross Domestic Product in the first three months of this year was revealed by the Office for National Statistics.

It followed a shock decline by the same amount in the last quarter of 2010 – blamed on the heavy snow. Another quarter of contraction would have put us officially back in recession. A 4.7 per cent decline in the traditionally volatile construction sector was blamed for wiping 0.3 percentage points off total growth, while manufacturing and services both surged. Chancellor George Osborne noted that jobs had also been created since the New Year and Government borrowing was down, but stressed that the world faced “some very choppy economic conditions”.

You see countries dealing with very high budget deficits, and we’ve got one of the highest

David Cameron

He said: “You see countries dealing with very high budget deficits, and we’ve got one of the highest, but I think that reinforces our determination to stick to the course.” EU statistics showed Britain had Europe’s third highest deficit after Greece and Ireland.

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