Workers have been ‘brutally exposed’ to the highest inflation and lowest economic growth in the G7, analysis finds
The Conservatives have been accused of presiding over the worst period of growth in modern history, as new damning analysis by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) found the UK has suffered the highest inflation and lowest economic growth in the G7 since the end of 2021.
Over this period, UK prices rose by 14.2% while the economy grew by just 0.4%. This compares to across G7 countries where inflation increased by 10.7% and the economy grew by 2.7% on average.
Rishi Sunak has repeatedly blamed the UK’s cost-of-living crisis on the pandemic, global energy prices and the war in Ukraine, however the analysis shows that other countries have fared much better than the UK, such as the US which saw its economy grow by 3.8% from 2021.
The TUC analysis found that only five other countries in the OECD did worse than the UK on inflation and growth since 2021, these being Chile, Czechia, Estonia, Lithuania and Sweden. Furthermore, average household spending in the OCED rose at seven times the rate of the UK.
While the UK’s economic performance post-pandemic has been the worst since the 1920s.
This has led to a deepening cost-of-living crisis in the UK as families have been left “brutally exposed” to soaring energy and food bills while household spending has dipped, the TUC said.
“The Conservatives have nothing to boast about on the economy,” said Paul Nowak, TUC General Secretary.
“Make no mistake – the Tories have deepened the cost of living crisis for millions. The reason why so many families have struggled to make ends meet and spend in their local economies is because of years of wage stagnation and years of dismal growth.
“People shouldn’t have to worry about affording their weekly shop or paying their bills. But many have seen their disposable incomes squeezed to breaking point by 14 years of Tory failure.”
The union body estimated that the average UK worker would be earning £10,000 a year more if pay had kept pace with pre-crisis trends.
It comes as the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has insisted that the UK economy has “turned a corner” as the country emerges from a shallow recession and today promised further tax cuts. However Labour called it a “desperate attempt.. to deflect from their £46bn unfunded tax plan” by the government that “crashed the economy”.
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward
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