Cty Cllr responds to IMF report as living standards continue to fall

“The Conservatives cannot be trusted with our economy.”

County Cllr Julie Gibson, the Lancashire Labour Group Shadow Cabinet Member for Economic Development has criticised the Conservative Government’s handling of the economy as “catastrophic” in the light of the recently released IMF report into the state of the global economy. The report predicts that the UK economy is expected to shrink this year and will be at the back of the leading G7 countries at a time when a fresh outbreak of financial upheaval threatens the slowing global recovery.

County Cllr Gibson said: “The report points to the UK and the euro area as being particularly affected by rising energy costs and higher inflation. British gross domestic product will contract by 0.3% in 2023, this is a smaller shrinkage than the 0.6% contraction the Fund predicted in January. Furthermore, the report claims the UK economy’s performance in 2023 will be the worst among the twenty biggest economies, known as the G20, which includes sanctions-hit Russia.”

She continued: “Yet the Government refuses to accept how serious this situation is. The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt commented that “we are on the right track for economic growth.” But what is their answer? A tax break for millionaires as announced in the recent budget. Even their former Prime Minister Liz Truss was trying to blame “left wing” economists and “woke” forecasters in a recent speech. How soon she forgets how the Central Bank had to step in with a promise to pump up to £65bn into financial markets after the mini budget unveiled by her and her then chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, caused financial turbulence in the markets.”

Cllr Gibson said: “Across Lancashire we are still feeling the cost-of-living crisis, businesses struggling to survive, families struggling with rising heating and food bills. This matters not just because 13 years of economic incompetence under the Tories has weakened our economy, but because people are worse off, facing a Tory mortgage penalty and seeing living standards falling at their fastest rate since records began. The Conservatives cannot be trusted with our economy, the people of Lancashire deserve better.”