Keir Starmer insists the UK economy WILL rebound as he faces MPs with alarm building over Labour’s Budget raid sparking surging inflation and fears of a recession_Nhy
Keir Starmer today insisted the UK economy will rebound amid fears that Labour‘s Budget is hammering businesses.
The Prime Minister said he was still committed to the UK having the highest ‘sustained growth’ in the G7 group of leading nations by the end of Labour’s first term.
He faced a grilling from senior MPs on the Liaison Committee this afternoon before Parliament rises for Christmas.
He told them that ‘it will take some time’ before living standards improve across the country, but added: ‘We want people to feel better off.’
The increase in the national living wage was a ‘pay rise for the three million who are the lowest paid’ and public sector workers were also feeling the benefit of pay deals.
‘In addition to that, the measures that we put in place will improve living standards,’ he said.
‘It will take some time, of course it will.
‘One of the biggest mistakes, I think, in the last 14 years was the idea that everything could be fixed by Christmas. It can’t.
The Prime Minister said he was still committed to the UK having the highest ‘sustained growth’ in the G7 group of leading nations by the end of Labour’s first term.
‘The planning will take time. The change in regulation will take time, we’ve got a national wealth fund which is investing, getting record investment into the country, that will take time.
‘But already some of the lowest paid are already feeling the benefits of a Labour government through what we did in the Budget.’
But at the same time there are fears that UK plc could slip into recession following Rachel Reeves‘ huge Budget tax raid.
The economy has contracted for two consecutive months, while closely-watched business surveys have shown activity flatlining. The costs of servicing government debt has also been creeping up.
Six members of the MPC preferred to keep the base rate steady, while three voted for a 0.25 percentage point reduction.
On Wednesday inflation rose for the second month in a row in November, hitting 2.6 per cent to further increase pressure on Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves over her Budget‘s impact on the country.
Spikes in petrol and tobacco prices drove CPI to 2.6 per cent, up from 2.3 per cent in October, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
And statisticians said the the figure would have been higher but for the largest drop in air fares in almost a quarter of a century.
