We have seen a host of economic data published over the last week that shows where the country was at the end of the previous Conservative Government. It is important to note this data in order to benchmark how the economy performs from this point onwards under the Labour Government. The new government tried to gloss over this data as they don’t want you to hear it.
For both the months of May and June, it was very welcome to see to that inflation had fallen back to the Bank of England target of 2.0%. However, for the month of July, Labour’s first month of office, it crept back up to 2.2% and we are already seeing policy decisions from Labour that risk stoking inflation further. June also marked an entire year of average wage growth rising by more than inflation, having people to be better off.
Economic growth data was also released. For the quarter of April/May/June, we saw growth of 0.6%. This follows the previous quarter of 0.7% growth, meaning that the UK has the highest economic growth of all G7 countries in 2024 so far, even higher than the United States. This nice inheritance for the Labour Government left by the Conservatives is in stark contrast to what we inherited from Labour in 2010, when the UK’s economic growth was the lowest in the G7 and unemployment was at 8%.
Every Labour government there has ever been, has left office with unemployment higher than when it entered office. The unemployment data released last week showed a fall to 4.2% for the end of June, down from 4.4% the previous month. The key economic figures to remember for what Labour inherited are inflation at 2%, two successive quarters of growth at 0.7/0.6% and unemployment at 4.2%.
Labour’s claims of a poor economic inheritance are absolute nonsense. To make such claims as a reason to scrap the winter fuel allowance for pensioners is disingenuous. Thousands will be impacted in Crawley and the real reason is to fund inflation-busting pay rises for trade unions that donated to the Labour party.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
21st August 2024
