Government is taking our economy in completely the wrong direction

date: 24 May 2012

embargo: For immediate release

Responding to the Office for National Statistics' second estimate of GDP growth in the first quarter of 2012, which shows that the UK economy contracted by 0.3 per cent, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

'The government is taking our economy in completely the wrong direction.

'Despite ministers' efforts to blame Europe for everything the truth is many of our problems are home grown, with consumer spending and construction both struggling under the weight of the government's austerity programme.

'The government needs to face facts and focus on investment in infrastructure and jobs, rather than continue with self-defeating cuts that are holding back businesses, lowering living standards and failing to deal with the deficit.'

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- The latest ONS GDP figures are available at http://bit.ly/KcIPUO

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07778 158175 E: media@tuc.org.uk
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Gibson T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: egibson@tuc.org.uk