Littewood: Cuts will help recovery

Mark Littlewood, director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs comments on revised growth figures:

“The latest ONS figures showing growth of 1.2% reveal the absurdity of arguing cuts will trigger a double dip recession. Although the road to recovery will be a rocky one, the overall trend will be better the more strident the action the government takes on cutting public spending.

“Economic growth depends on restoring confidence in the British economy and this requires reducing our national debt significantly. Investors need to know that Britain is serious about re-balancing the books.

“Encouraging people off welfare, moving public servants into the private sector, creating a competitive tax environment, improving the quality of education by changing the funding and governance model, cutting from all departments without ring-fencing and alleviating the burden on the private sector from red tape and restrictive labour laws is the way to ensure we see more positive growth figures.”