Conservatives’ economic approach of “doing nothing and hoping for the best” is putting UK “on road to recession”

Commenting on today’s inflation figures which show CPI inflation at 6.7%, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said:  

“The Conservatives’ economic approach of doing nothing and hoping for the best is putting the UK on the road to recession. 

“Working people have been left brutally exposed to the cost of living crisis – real wages are still worth less today than in 2008 after the longest pay squeeze in 200 years.   

“While food bills remain sky high, unemployment and insecure work are now also shooting up. 

“It’s high time this government delivered a credible plan to get our economy growing and deliver rising living standards and decent well-paid jobs across the country.  

“The Conservatives have yet to produce one despite being in office for the past 13 years. 

On the interest rate decision due tomorrow, Paul added: 

"A halt to interest rate rises is long overdue.  

“Pushing interest rates so high that the economy is driven into recession will only make the current crisis worse, costing people their jobs and their homes." 

Recent analysis by the TUC (using CPI) shows wages are still lower than they were in 2008 in many sectors:  

• Real pay growth across the year is flat across all employees (0.0%), but is still falling in the public sector (-1.1%)  

• Real pay remains 2.9% (£18 per week) lower than it was at the start of 2008  

• The only sector that has seen real pay growth since 2008 is finance and business (+2.8%, £55 per week). Across all other sectors, real pay is lower now than it was in 2008.