GDP figures: Britain is out of recession

By Tim Ross, Political Correspondent

The Chancellor welcomed GDP statistics indicating that the economy grew by 1 per cent between July and September after shrinking for the previous nine months.

The growth rate was higher than many forecasters had expected but Mr Osborne warned Britain was still faced “risks” from the eurozone crisis and instability elsewhere.

He welcomed signs of “underlying growth” in the British economy.

“Britain is recovering from a very deep banking crisis and some very deep seated problems that emerged over many years. But today you can see that the British economy is on the right track,” he said.

“If we stick with what we’re doing, getting the deficit down, creating jobs, fixing the deep-seated problems in the British economy then I think you can see now that it is going to deliver the kind of underlying prosperity we want to see in this country.”

However, the chancellor insisted he was not complacent, despite the welcome return to growth.

“There are plenty of risks out there,” he told BBC News. “Look at the data from the eurozone this week that shows us that there is still a difficult economic situation in the world.

“We have had many problems in the last year, as a country and indeed as a world.”

The Chancellor said the Government was addressing “deep-seated” problems in the British economy.

“We face enormous competition from around the world. That’s an even bigger challenge for Britain in some ways.”

He dismissed recent remarks made by the International Monetary Fund about the negative impact of spending cuts on the world economy.

“The IMF data was for a whole series of countries, and I think to be fair it’s come under some scrutiny, and criticism.

“We’re dealing with our debts, we’re creating jobs, we’re making this economy a more competitive place to do business.”

Mr Osborne rejected the suggestion the Government could have stimulated growth with a more assertive programme of capital investment.

“We’re actually putting more money into, for example, road building, than was put into road building in the good years. But I have had to cut budgets,” he said.

“What I’m looking to do is to make the British economy more competitive in the future - that’s why I want more money spent on things like roads and crucial transport infrastructure, like high speed trains.

“I’ve tried to reprioritise the British government budget, people’s taxes, away from, for example, welfare payment, into the things that are actually going to help us create jobs.” Telegraph