UK economic growth slows to 0.3%
WEAKEST EXPANSION SINCE 2012 POURS WATER ON TORY CLAIMS THAT THEY ARE BEST PLACED TO MANAGE RECOVERY
UK economic growth slowed more than economists forecast in the first quarter, dealing a potential blow to Prime Minister David Cameron’s claim that his Conservative Party is best placed to manage the economy’s recovery.
The 0.3 per cent pace was just half the rate of the previous three months and marked the weakest expansion since the fourth quarter of 2012. Economists had forecast a reading of 0.5 per cent, according to a Bloomberg News survey.
With the May 7 election just over a week away, the release will be latched onto by politicians looking to sway voters with their economic credentials. Polls signal the Conservatives, who formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats after the 2010 election, and the opposition Labour Party are neck-andneck, with neither likely to win a majority in Parliament.
“Given that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are hoping that many undecided voters will ultimately decide to vote for them due to their management of the economy, any slowdown in growth would be very unwelcome news,” Howard Archer, an economist at IHS Global Insight in London, said before the data.
The slowdown in the first quarter was led by services, the Office for National Statistics said. The largest part of the economy grew just 0.5 per cent, the least since the second quarter of 2013. In that sector, business services and finance rose just 0.1 per cent.
Production fell 0.1 per cent in the January-March period and construction dropped 1.6 per cent. From a year earlier, the economy expanded 2.4 per cent, the least in more than a year.
In an attempt to court voters ahead of the May 7 election, British Prime Minister David Cameron said his party had ten days to save the United Kingdom from Scottish nationalists who he said would sow chaos if they won a kingmaker position.
Opinion polls show Cameron’s Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party are neck-andneck with neither expected to win an overall majority.
The Scottish National Party, which has surged in popularity since Scots voted against independence in a September 18 referendum, is set to wipe out Labour in Scotland and has said it wants to work with Labour to block the Conservatives returning to power.
In an interview with the newspaper, published yesterday, Cameron said the SNP didn’t want the United Kingdom or its Westminsterbased government to succeed.
“They want the exact opposite,” he said. “The SNP come at the argument wanting the best for Scotland and the rest of the UK can go hang because they don’t want to be part of it, they don’t want it to be a success.”
The SNP, which wants independence for Scotland, says Britain’s institutions are failing and that it will act constructively to bring ‘progressive change’ across the United Kingdom if it wins a kingmaker position.
Cameron said he would consider it a failure if his Conservatives do not win a majority.
“Not winning the election outright is obviously not a success,” he said. “I have a duty to spend the next ten days to win the election outright ... Ten days to save the United Kingdom.”
US statistician Nate Silver, who successfully forecast the result of the last two US presidential elections, predicted the Conservatives would win the most seats but that Labour and the SNP combined could have more seats, an outcome he described as “incredibly messy”.