General election: GDP figures a blow to Tories as ONS cuts UK growth rate days before election

[Surya Gayatri]

Source: The Independent

Britain’s rate of economic growth has been cut in half by the national statistics office, dealing a surprise blow to the Conservative campaign just day before voters go to the polls for the general election.

In a surprise set of figures, the Office for National Statistics said the economy had grown by only 0.3% in the first three months of 2015 – half the rate it grew at in the final quarter of 2014.



Production, construction, and agriculture all shrank with only services showing growth

The figures, which show a worrying slowing in Britain’s economic fortunes, were significantly worse than City analysts had been expecting.

The economy’s construction, production and agriculture sectors all shrank, with only the service sector keeping overall economic growth positive with an increase of 0.5%, according to the ONS.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/blow-to-tories-economic-credentials-as-ons-cuts-uk-economic-growth-rate-cut-in-half-days-before-election-10208992.html

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Let's see how Cameron tries to talk his way out of this with just days to go before the election.

CUT IN HALF - That's not just a radar blip...

[LeftishBrit]

1. I know how he'll spin it...

'Oh blah blah blah de blah; it's all Labour's fault; they're the ones who nearly bankrupted the country (never mind that it was a global crisis!), oh and Miliband isn't to be trusted, oh and the SNP are the most dangerous people in Britain, and Miliband might form an alliance with them, and BLAH BLAH BLAH!'

I was sure that the growth figures were misleading - I could see that there obviously wasn't much growth going on, and I live in the South, which is generally less affected by the recession and austerity than the North or Midlands.

[Surya Gayatri]

2. Well, I hope his fear-mongering leaves the Brit electorate cold.

[T_i_B]

3. Conservatives reveal new election tactic of shouting ‘ECONOMY’ at everyone

I'm listening to Cameron on the Jeremy Vine show now (pure masochism I know) and he's still blathering on endlessly about the deficit and claiming that the economy is in much better shape then it was (which I don't see at all).

http://newsthump.com/2015/04/28/conservatives-reveal-new-election-tactic-of-shouting-economy-at-everyone-for-next-nine-days/

With nine days left of the election, the Tories have unveiled a radical new campaign plan that involves shouting ‘ECONOMY’ at people at every given opportunity.

“ECONOMY,” shouted David Cameron yesterday at a Conservative rally in Chelmsford, before immediately boarding his Tory battle-bus and heading off to Southend where he shouted ‘ECONOMY’ at some other people. This Thursday will see Question Time host all the party leaders and is now expected to be dominated by David Cameron shouting ‘ECONOMY,’ and potentially putting his fingers in his ears and going ‘la la la la,’ when anyone tries to argue.

If the new plan proves effective then it is expected the other major parties will establish similar strategies of shouting one-word summations of what they stand for.

Labour are expected to shout ‘NHS,’ the SNP will shout ‘KILTS,’ and the Liberal Democrats – ‘NICE HAIR.’ However UKIP are said to be furious at the ‘blatant plagiarism’ of their own tactics after they spent the last four years shouting ‘IMMIGRANTS!’ at anyone who would listen.