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Parties argue over growth figures Parties step up economic battle
(about 5 hours later)
The Conservatives have said weak growth figures show the country needs "new leadership" but Labour have insisted the economic recovery is "under way". The parties have traded blows over the economy after the last growth figures to be published before the election showed the recovery remained fragile.
Figures indicating growth of 0.2% between January and March intensified economic arguments between the parties. Gordon Brown insisted only Labour action had prevented the UK sliding back into recession and said his priorities were "jobs, jobs, jobs".
Shadow chancellor George Osborne said the figures were "disappointing" but Prime Minister Gordon Brown said any growth at all was "against the odds". Tory leader David Cameron warned the figures showed the UK could not afford the "paralysis" of a hung Parliament.
The Liberal Democrats said the recovery was "barely visible". But Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said "people, not markets" must come first.
The figures are the last major economic data to be published before the general election. The day after they locked horns in the second prime ministerial TV debate, the three leaders' focus returned to the economy after figures showed the UK grew 0.2% in the first three months of 2010 - less than had been expected.
Growth of 0.2% was less than had been expected by economists and was below the 0.4% figure for the last three months of 2009. In other developments on Friday:
However, the latest figures are provisional and could be either revised up or down in the future. The last set of figures was revised up.
Friday's GDP figures are provisional and could be either revised up or down in the future.
However, they were weaker than the last three months of 2009 - when the economy grew 0.4% - and suggest that the economy is struggling to recover from last year's recession - the most severe for more than 60 years.
'Not working''Not working'
Yet the Tories said they showed Labour's claim to be slowly steering the economy out of its 18-month slump was untrue. The Conservatives said the data showed Labour's claim to be slowly steering the economy towards recovery was simple untrue.
"They are disappointing figures, below expectations," Mr Osborne said. "We now have a jobless recovery from a weak government". Coming days after separate figures showed unemployment rising in the first three months of the year, the Tories say it was clear that only "new leadership" could get the economy "moving again".
Coming days after data showed unemployment rising in the first three months of the year, he said they showed that "new leadership" was required to get the economy "moving". "It is good news that the economy is growing but bad news that it is only growing 0.2%," their leader David Cameron said during a visit to a fashion college in London. "We are hardly racing out of the recession".
"It is part of a set of disappointing economic data this week which shows Gordon Brown's economic policies are not working." We are hardly racing out of the recession David Cameron class="" href="/2/hi/business/8639160.stm">Economic growth slows class="" href="/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8638873.stm">UK election-at-a-glance: 23 April class="" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/stephanieflanders/2010/04/slowly_does_it.html">Stephanie Flanders: Slowly does it class="" href="/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8638961.stm">Tories hit out over Labour leaflets
At a press conference in London, the prime minister acknowledged it had been a "difficult few months" for the economy. Mr Cameron again turned his focus on what he says is the danger of an inconclusive election result after 6 May, which recent polls suggest is a distinct possibility, given the size of the economic difficulties facing the country.
He said he had anticipated the dip in growth, attributing it to the poor weather in January and February, the end of last year's temporary reduction in VAT and the weakness of European economies. If that happened, the economy could "flounder without leadership and direction", he claimed.
'Sticking with it' He said: "The indecision and paralysis that would come from a hung Parliament is just what the economy does not need now."
But he said Labour investment in training, employment and the car scrappage scheme had prevented the situation from being worse and rivals' policies would threaten jobs at this "fragile and uncertain time". At a press conference in London, the prime minister acknowledged it had been a "difficult few months" for the economy, attributing this to the poor weather in January and February, the end of last year's temporary reduction in VAT and the weakness of European economies.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne: "Today's figures show it is a weak recovery" 'Scale of danger'
"If you vote for the Conservatives or Liberal Democrats, you are putting this recovery at risk." However, he insisted that growth had been maintained "against the odds" due to Labour's support for employment, training and the car industry.
Chancellor Alistair Darling told BBC Radio 4's The World at One that the figures were "very much in line with what I thought would happen". Speaking later in Coventry, he claimed that - had the Conservatives been in office during the recession - an estimated further 1.7 million jobs would have been lost.
He predicted the growth would continue to build and become "more solidly based during the course of the next year beyond that", as long as the UK and other countries "stick to the course we have set". "Be clear that... very many more jobs would have been lost as they [the Tories] stood aside and left events to take their course," he said. "That is the scale of risk, that is the scale of the danger that these people present to the economy."
The Lib Dems said Labour had failed to get tough on the banks to ensure credit was available to struggling firms while the Tories would remove support for the economy when it still needed it. Mr Brown said the economy was still "fragile" and that Conservative proposals to cut £6bn in spending this year would have dire consequences.
"These figures show that the promised recovery is barely visible," said their Treasury spokesman Vince Cable. "Our economy is too important, our hard-earned recovery is too fragile to let these novices play with it now," Mr Brown added.
"There is a real danger of the UK going into a double-dip recession." The Tories insist by cutting waste they can stop next year's planned National Insurance rise which they say is a "recovery killer".
The BBC's chief economics correspondent, Hugh Pym, said all the parties would use the figures to back up their central economic arguments. Chancellor Alistair Darling told BBC Radio 4's The World at One that the figures were "very much in line" with his expectations and that he expected the economy to continue to recover if the next government "stuck to the course" Labour had set.
The economy is likely to take centre stage in the election campaign next week ahead of the final prime ministerial TV debate between Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg, focusing on the issue. 'Dark shadow'
In Thursday's second debate, the three party leaders said each others' tax and spending policies posed a risk to the recovery. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said the UK was "nowhere near" coming out of the "dark shadow" of the recession and accused Labour of not bringing the banks to account for failing to lend to struggling firms, claiming they were "holding a gun to the head of the rest of the economy".
He said the Tories would remove support for the economy when it was still desperately needed it and accused them of suggesting there would be an "armageddon in the markets" if no party won an outright victory on 6 May.
"We should be putting people before the markets," he said.
BBC political correspondent Gary O'Donoghue said the growth figures were a boost for Gordon Brown in that there were very real fears of a slide back into recession. But he said the continuing story of the election was the strong poll ratings enjoyed by the Lib Dems.
The three parties have continued to claim victory after Thursday's latest prime ministerial debate, with polls suggesting that it was a more even contest than the first encounter - widely perceived to have been won by Mr Clegg.
The final TV debate, taking place next Thursday, will focus predominantly on the economy.