Liz Truss campaigned for the Tory leadership on a promise to axe the planned corporation tax rise (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)Britain’s shaky economy is on the brink of recession as new data reveals a fall in GDP.
It comes as former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng popped up in his first interview since being sacked, ahead of successor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn Budget statement.
Speaking on TalkTV’s First Edition, Kwarteng criticised the “mad” decision of short-tenured ex-PM Liz Truss to sack him for implementing her tax-cutting agenda.
So, has Kwarteng been in touch with his old boss and political soulmate? He says they are still “friends” but has not returned her missed call from several days ago.
It comes as Office for National Statistics data shows output dropped 0.2 per cent from July to September.
Friday’s data does not mean Britain is quite in recession as the definition is two consecutive quarters of falling GDP - but it certainly feels like it.
Now there’s an increasing likelihood the fourth quarter will see another dip after the surge in interest rates triggered by Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-Budget in September.
Those ONS figures suggest what we’d all feared, that we’re lumbering towards what the Bank of England forecasts could be the longest recession since records began.
The Leader’s joined by Alfie Stirling, director of research and chief economist at the New Economics Foundation, and Evening Standard deputy political editor David Bond.
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