Growth Figures: Brown Says Spend To Save My Bacon

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 25th Jul 2003

Matthew Taylor MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer

Commenting on today's GDP figures for the 2nd Quarter of 2003 showing growth of 0.3% on the quarter, Matthew Taylor MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, said:

"Gordon Brown's economic headache just got worse."

"The economy continues to be fundamentally imbalanced. We cannot sustain even this sluggish growth by simply encouraging consumers to get further into debt."

"Brown is saying to people 'spend to save my bacon', and at the same time staring down the barrel of £10bn extra borrowing because of his faulty forecasts."

ENDS.

Notes to Editors.

1. Manufacturing is still in recession on a quarterly and annual basis (-0.7% on the year) compared to strong growth for services over the year (+2.6%).

2. Growth in the first two quarters of 2003 has been 0.1% and 0.3%, compared to 0.3% and 0.6% for the first two quarters of 2002.