The SNP has ramped up calls on the Chancellor to “go further faster” in support for households navigating the Tory-made cost of living crisis.
The call comes after the latest figures published by the ONS revealed that the economy contracted by 0.3% in April, after a decline of 0.1% a month earlier.
Separately, the CBI downgraded its growth outlook for this year and called on Rishi Sunak to act before summer recess amid concerns of a recession.
The CBI’s director general, Tony Danker, warned that it “won’t take much to tip us into a recession, and even if we don’t, it will feel like one for too many people.”
Meanwhile, forecasts earlier this month from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) highlighted that the UK is set to have the lowest economic growth performance of all G20 economies apart from sanctions-hit Russia.
Commenting, the SNP’s Shadow Chancellor Alison Thewliss MP said:
“These latest figures are real cause for concern.
“The Chancellor cannot simply let the warnings go in one ear and out the other.
“The measures brought forward by the Chancellor so far have been welcome but it’s clear that the UK government needs to go further faster to properly tackle the Tory-made cost of living crisis hammering households and businesses.
“The dangerous concoction of record levels of inflation, warnings of a recession, rising fuel and food prices, and higher energy bills is piling on the hardship – with people being pushed into poverty and forced to cut back on essentials.
“And recent OECD forecasts that the UK is set to have the lowest economic growth performance of all G20 economies bar sanctions-hit Russia is a damning indictment of the Tory government’s harmful policies, including an extreme Brexit.
“With summer recess fast approaching and the Tories consumed by chaos and infighting, it is critical that Rishi Sunak heeds the warnings and delivers further support to mitigate the Tory-made cost of living crisis and to protect households before it is too late for many.
“People in Scotland are being forced to pay a heavy price for the cost of living with Westminster – with Tory austerity, the regressive NI hike, cuts to Universal Credit, and an extreme Brexit piling on the pressure.
“The only way to properly protect households is to become an independent country.”
