The UK economy is “bouncing along the bottom” and could take another three years to heal, Ken Clarke has suggested.
The Cabinet minister said the 0.3% GDP growth figure for the first quarter of this year was better than many other Western countries.
However, he warned that UK plc was likely to be just “keeping its head above the water” until after the general election.
“We are bouncing along the bottom, not achieving normal growth because we are in the middle of a good financial crisis gripping the Western world,” he said.
“We were left with a public deficit and debt which rivalled Greece, size for size.”
