UK MPs gloomy about economic outlook

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/191160.html

British MPs from across the political spectrum fear the economy will not afford to improve its weak performance in the near future, a survey has found.

A poll of 158 MPs from all parties carried out by ComRes, showed they are worried about the outlook for economic growth, inflation and unemployment in the coming 12 months.

The poll commissioned by The Independent found that the pessimism is not limited to Labour MPs whose party would be more than delighted to prove the government's economic policies as inefficient and is widespread among both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

Based on the poll, the Tuesday report that Britain is limping close to an economic flatline with a 0.2 growth in the second quarter of 2011 has not been welcome among Lib Dem backbenchers who could pressure government to change course in the coming months.

The poll found 58 percent of Lib Dems believe growth will not change in the next 12 years, against 32 percent who think differently.

Tories predict sunnier prospects for the economy with 64 percent saying growth will improve over the coming months though still 32 percent of them disagree.

In contrast, more than three in five Labour MPs (62 percent) said they expect a worse growth rate in the next 12 months with only 4 percent saying the economy will be back on track soon.

Overall, 35 percent of MPs thought growth trends will plateau in the coming months with 27 percent believing growth will get even worse while 37 percent said there would be a rebound.

The gloom was also felt among Lib Dems when there were questioned on the unemployment.

More than half of Lib Dems (54 percent) answered the jobless figures would not change with 18 percent saying unemployment will deteriorate against 28 percent who believed it will fall.

The survey showed 34 percent of Lib Dems' coalition partners in the Tory camp believe jobless figures will not change, 19 percent believe the figure will rise while 47 percent think less people will be out of employment.

More than 90 percent of Labour MPs said they expect unemployment to get worse.

As for inflation the pessimism was prevalent among both Tories and Lib Dems with 47 percent of the former and 42 percent of the latter saying inflation will not improve against just one in four who though differently.

Forty-seven per cent of Tories and 42 per cent of Liberal Democrats say it will stay the same and only a quarter of MPs in both parties think it will fall.