WORST IN EUROPE
Recession worse than UK neighbours’ Death toll of 41,329 is more than any in EU
THE failings of the Government are exposed by figures confirming Britain has the worst recession in Europe as well as its highest coronavirus death toll.
More than £115billion was wiped from the UK economy in the first six months of this year.
It nosedived by more than 20% between April and June, the biggest fall on record, said the Office for National Statistics.
And more than 3,000 redundancies have been announced in the past few days by major employers.
The Department of Health and Social Care said that, as of yesterday, 41,329 patients who were diagnosed with coronavirus within the previous 28 days had died.
A previous figure of 46,706 counted patients who had tested Covid-19 positive at any time.
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have been 56,800 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
Shadow Chancellor Anneliese
Dodds said: “We’ve already got the worst excess death rate in Europe – now we’re on course for the worst recession too.
“That’s a tragedy for the British people and it has happened on Boris Johnson’s watch.
“The Prime Minister will say there’s only so much he could do during a global pandemic but that doesn’t explain why our economy is tanking so badly compared to other countries. It was his Government that snatched away wage support for businesses that hadn’t even reopened yet.
“And his Government that failed to get test, trace and isolate working despite claiming it is a ‘world-beating’ system.
“A downturn was inevitable after lockdown but Johnson’s jobs crisis wasn’t. Now he must take respon
sibility, scrap the one-size-fits-all withdrawal of wage support and bring the health crisis under control.” Chancellor Rishi Sunak admitted it is “a very difficult and uncertain time” but said: “Nobody will be left without hope or opportunity.” The 20.4% slump in gross domestic product – the value of everything the UK produces – between April and June was the biggest fall on record, said the ONS.
It is worse than any EU country and amounts to going from £523billion in the final three months of 2019 to £408bn in the second quarter of 2020. Over the same period, France’s economy shrank by 13.8%, Italy’s by 12.4% and Germany’s by 10.1%.
Samuel Tombs, an economist, said that the UK’s economy had “underperformed its peers to an extraordinary degree”.
One reason is our reliance on the service sector, which makes up the bulk of the economy and includes banks, shops and restaurants. The
hotel and restaurant sector suffered an 86.7% slump the construction industry collapsed by 35% from April to June.
But other sectors did better, with financial services losing only 3.7%
Nearly a million workers have already lost their livelihoods, with more expected. Another 550 jobs have been put on the line at NatWest Bank.
Research from accountants EY shows companies issued 165 profit warnings between April and June, with 84% citing the pandemic. The figure marked a 139% increase on the same time a year ago.
Tracy Lynn, director of North Westbased live events agency Spark Creatives, said: “Back in March and April we were treading water; since July it feels like we’re slowly drowning. The only thing keeping us afloat is our own reserves, tenacity and sheer grit.
“Sadly, grit and determination don’t pay the bills and looking into the future right now as a small business owner feels bleak and lonely.”
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