Rachel Reeves has defended her stewardship of the financial system regardless of figures displaying plunging payroll numbers and jobs vacancies.
The chancellor insisted Labour had been “creating extra jobs” since getting into workplace whilst official knowledge confirmed the UK’s unemployment fee remained caught at a four-year excessive within the three months to June.
Vacancies declined for the thirty seventh month in a row whereas employees numbers fell in July to their lowest degree since October 2023 within the wake of Ms Reeves’s tax raid on companies.
Talking to reporters on a go to to Belfast, the chancellor stated the Authorities had returned stability to the financial system however that there was “completely” extra progress to be made.
She stated: “There’s extra to do, however within the first yr, we’ve managed to return stability to the financial system, we’re rising the financial system and lowering prices, significantly mortgage prices for hard-pressed households.”
Firms have been grappling with rising employees prices attributable to the chancellor’s resolution to boost the nationwide minimal wage and employer Nationwide Insurance coverage contributions in April.
It pushed common wage progress to 5pc, though pay excluding bonuses slowed down from 5pc to 4.6pc within the three months to June, the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics (ONS) stated.