Cameron hints at end to recession
DAVID Cameron yesterday told the House of Commons that more “good news” is on the way, leading to speculation that today’s third-quarter growth figures will show Britain has exited recession.
During a row with Labour leader Ed Miliband at Prime Minister’s Questions, Cameron boasted of recent falls in unemployment and inflation before declaring “the good news will keep coming.”
Downing Street denied he was making a specific reference to today’s GDP announcement, although Cameron received an advance copy of the figures yesterday morning.
Last night the UK Statistics Authority confirmed that it was looking into whether the Prime Minister had broken its strict rules on not disclosing the figures in advance.
Analysts have been near-unanimous in their prediction that the figures will show a return to growth, with several leading economists predicting GDP will rise by around 0.7 per cent. However this includes a boost from sales of tickets to the Olympic games and follows a second quarter that was affected by an additional bank holiday, suggesting the underlying economy is broadly flat.
The figures will be released at 9.30am today.