Keir Starmer urged to confess he was flawed to ‘discuss down Britain’

Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to confess he was flawed to “talk down Britain” after revised official figures revealed the UK economy had done better than previously thought

Treasury minister Andrew Griffith wrote to the Labour chief and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves following new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which confirmed the financial system had already returned to its pre-Covid ranges by the top of 2021.

Mr Griffith stated there was a “deafening silence” from the Opposition as he referred to as on the pair to have the “grace to admit they were wrong”.

He wrote: “I do know Labour’s trademark is to speak Britain down – whether or not this be wanting to maintain us locked down in the course of the pandemic, defying the desire of the British individuals over Brexit or persistently carping about our enterprise or financial prospects.

“However, Labour achieved a brand new stage of disdain and naysaying when declaring the UK’s financial system was lagging behind our European neighbours as we emerged from the pandemic.”

The Tory minister highlighted comments the Labour politicians made in the House of Commons based on the previous figures.

Mr Griffith said: “In reality, Sir Keir, you stood on the despatch field and declared ‘the common French household are a tenth richer, the common German household a fifth richer. Those nations confronted the identical pandemic and people nations face the identical warfare’.

“You went on to say our economy was ‘brittle’ and ‘weaker’ and ‘less resilient’ than our competitors.

“Rachel, as shadow chancellor you declared on the despatch field the UK was set to expertise ‘weaker progress in contrast with our opponents for bot of the subsequent two years’.”

Mr Griffith said leadership is “about being able to say while you’ve obtained it flawed”.

He went on: “I discover neither of you’ve thus far seen match to right the file.

“I would therefore like to encourage you to take the opportunity to do so, in the House at your earliest convenience.”

Mr Griffith’s letter comes after revised figures launched by the ONS final Friday confirmed that by the final three months of 2021 the financial system was 0.6 % larger than 2019 ranges, in comparison with a earlier estimate that it was 1.2 % smaller.

The ONS stated it was revising its estimate for gross home product (GDP) that 12 months after having access to new knowledge.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt hailed the upwards revision which suggests the UK’s financial system is now believed to have grown by 8.5 % throughout 2021.

He stated: “The fact that the UK recovered from the pandemic much faster than thought shows that once again those determined to talk down the British economy have been proved wrong.

“There are many battles nonetheless to win, most of all towards inflation so we will ease cost-of-living pressures on households.

“But if we stick to the plan we can look forward to healthy growth which, according to the IMF (International Monetary Fund), will be faster than Germany, France, and Italy in the long term.”