Growth figures welcome but British economy is still weak says Cable

6.21.00pm GMT Fri 26th Feb 2010

Responding to the news that the UK economy grew by 0.3% in the final three months of last year, faster than had been previously estimated, Vince Cable said:

“While it is welcome news that the economy has grown by more than had been previously estimated, the British economy is still weak. And with the Government stimulus largely coming to an end last December it is highly likely growth will continue to be weak for some time.

“This news underlines again the folly of rushing into rapid cuts which could push the economy back into recession and inflict further structural damage on the UK, making it harder to sustain our credit rating and creating an even larger budget deficit.

“Decisions about the speed and timing of tackling the deficit should be based on the state of the economy, not political dogma.

“If the public and markets are to have confidence in the political parties, Labour and the Tories must follow the Liberal Democrat lead and demonstrate a credible plan for when and how the deficit will be tackled and where the cuts will come from.”