UK growth forecast downgraded

This sobering report shows why David Cameron and George Osborne's deeply complacent approach to the economy is so misplaced. Their failing policies have seen two years of almost no growth and the Bank of England is now forecasting lower growth and higher inflation than just a few months ago. The complacent thing for the Government to do now is simply sit back and hope things will get better, but the cautious approach would be to act now to secure and strengthen our economic recovery. Britain needs a plan to create the jobs and growth we need to get deficits down.

Growth in Q3 [third quarter] has been boosted by one-off factors and gives an over-optimistic impression of the underlying trend. Continuing the recent 'zig-zag' pattern, output growth is likely to fall back sharply in Q4 [forth quarter] as the boost from the Olympics in the Summer is reversed. Indeed, output may shrink a little this quarter.