Rugby and Bulkington’s MP, Mark Pawsey, who has long championed lower petrol prices and support for businesses as a way to encourage economic activity has welcomed two announcements this week that show the UK economy is on the right track. Coming shortly after confirmation that unemployment fell in Rugby and Bulkington during 2014, these figures confirm that the economic recovery is broad based and helping hard working families.
The official GDP figures show the UK growing half a percentage point in the last quarter of 2014, the eighth consecutive quarter of growth and a cumulative 2.6 per cent for the whole year. This means that the UK economy has been the fastest growing major economy in the developed world for the whole of 2014. The same official figures showed that regular pay rose by 1.8 per cent, beating inflation which has fallen below one per cent. Meanwhile, ASDA’s regular monthly Income Tracker showed that across the UK families £15 per week or 8.9% better off than the same month last year and reported that household finances were boosted by significant falls in petrol, electricity and gas prices.
Mark said:
“These statistics show that the Government’s long-term economic plan is working. Although there is still more hard work to do, we are seeing the UK economy growing at a faster rate than anywhere else in the G7 or in Europe and we are creating full time jobs across Rugby and Bulkington. By getting people back into work and supporting local businesses, Britain is finally turning the corner on Labour’s recession.”
Mark continued:
“Lower fuel prices have helped and whilst much of this is down to world markets there can be no doubt that getting rid of Labour’s fuel duty escalator and cutting fuel duty by a penny in addition to that has made a difference. Without these measures the price at the pump would be nearly 20p higher than it is today. Given how important the use of a car is to hardworking families, it is vital that Government does what it can to keep these prices low.”
Mark concluded:
“I hope that these trends will continue and prices of energy bills also come down. It is deeply disappointing that with costs falling for energy companies, the greatest barrier to people’s fuel bills falling is in fact the Labour party’s proposed price freeze. This shows that Labour have not learned the lessons of these past few years, and should Ed Miliband become Prime Minister, Britain’s economic recovery would be risked.”