{"id":12880,"date":"2017-07-27T16:50:29","date_gmt":"2017-07-27T15:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=12880"},"modified":"2017-07-28T11:51:05","modified_gmt":"2017-07-28T10:51:05","slug":"truly-in-tatters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=12880","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Truly in tatters\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The UK economy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s has slowed down \u00e2\u20ac\u0098notably\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 according to the latest GDP figures released yesterday (July 25), with the leader of Unite, slamming the government, commenting that Tory claims to economic competency were `truly in tatters\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 now.<\/p>\n

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Office of national statistics figures show that in the first quarter of 2017, GDP shrank to 0.3 per cent compared to the 0.7 per cent over the same period in 2016 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c making it the weakest six months\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 growth for five years.<\/p>\n

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The result was even lower than the government expected.\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u015bConservative claims to be the party of economic competency are laughable now,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 commented Unite general secretary Len McCluskey.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTheir credibility is truly in tatters as the economy shrinks, kept afloat by high street spending and, very worryingly, booming personal debt,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s John McDonnell said that from this result revealed \u00e2\u20ac\u015bweak growth under a weak government,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 exposing seven years of Tory economic failure.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He believed it was clear that only Labour had the right plan for investment and economic growth. Most affected were construction and manufacturing industries \u00e2\u20ac\u201c output fell by 0.9 and 0.5 per cent respectively over the period.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe truth is that the Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 austerity cuts have undermined working people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s living standards and weakened the UK economy,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McDonnell said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOnly a Labour government has a strategic plan of investment to boost growth \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 which will help build a high-wage, high-skill economy that works for the many, not the few.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Busted lever\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

McCluskey agreed, adding, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Tories cannot keep pulling at the same busted lever, austerity. \u00c2\u00a0Surely the repeated gloomy news on the economy has mean that the penny is dropping? You cannot cut your way to growth.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The TUC general secretary Frances O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady warned that with falling wages and rising family debt the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsigns of strain are starting to show\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady insisted the government had to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstep up to the plate\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 with a suitable plan to boost investment. They could start this right away by scrapping the public-sector pay cap and increasing the minimum wage to \u00c2\u014110 per hour.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An immediate change of direction was paramount. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey must change gear,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said McCluskey. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBring forward plans – and cash – to repair the damage that they have done to the economy and our public services, and to put some money in the wages of the workers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWorking people, remember, do not hoard their cash in offshore accounts. \u00c2\u00a0They spend it. \u00c2\u00a0They are the motor of the economy. \u00c2\u00a0It is high time that the government grasped this basic fact and helped and acted to make work pay again in this country,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he concluded.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UK economy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s has slowed down \u00e2\u20ac\u0098notably\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 according to the latest GDP figures released yesterday (July 25), with the leader of Unite, slamming the government, commenting that Tory claims to economic competency were `truly in tatters\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 now.   Office of national statistics figures show that in the first quarter of 2017, GDP shrank to 0.3 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[76,196,44],"wps_subtitle":"Tory economy shaky as GDP growth slows","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12881,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12880\/revisions\/12881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}