Our economy underpins everything and its strength and resilience matters. Economic shocks have been triggered globally by Covid 19 and by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the impacts of which will be felt for some time. However, we are seeing encouraging signs and progress being made, helped by Conservative stewardship and leadership.
While my party has not always got it right economically, our record is far superior to that of Labour, who when in government have always left unemployment higher than when they took office. I have no doubt that this will be repeated next time.
Our government’s target to halve inflation this year is being met with the latest figure being 4.6%, down from over the peak of over 11%. I expect further declines next year with the return to the Bank of England’s 2% target being reached. Interest rates have likely peaked, and the average two-year mortgage rate has fallen below 6%.
Revised GDP data shows the UK economy has grown more quickly than Germany, France, Italy and Japan when recovering from the pandemic. This revised data from the Office of National Statistics’ (ONS) shows the UK economy is 2% larger than previously estimated, having recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic by the end of 2021.
Something Labour won’t tell you is that the proportion of workers on low pay has halved since 2010, thanks to the National Living Wage. New figures from the ONS show that the proportion of workers on low pay has halved since 2010, under successive Conservative governments, thanks to the National Living Wage (NLW). The Conservative government is going further to make work pay and are increasing the NLW to £11.44 an hour from April 2024, an increase of £1.02. It will also apply to over 21s instead of the current level of being over 23, giving a greater income boost to 21- and 22-year-olds who are on the current £10.18 amount.
Business confidence is up with the latest survey data looking very positive, with confidence now at the highest level since before the Ukraine war, driven by increased trading prospects for the year ahead.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
13th December 2023
