As GDP figures show Britain’s economy contracted by 0.5% in the last quarter, George Osborne has atacked the government for its role in current economic difficulties:
"Everyone was expecting a bad figure but this is much worse. It shows that millions of British families are in for a very difficult time in the months ahead. Conservatives will do everything to help people cope.
"It is a defining moment in the record of Gordon Brown. The day that we can all see that the central claims he made over ten years, that he had abolished boom and bust and therefore didn’t need to set aside money for a rainy day has been shown to be completely false.
“Sadly it will be millions of families, pensioners and companies that will pay the price for Labour’s failure to prepare for this moment."