John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, responding to the EU Commission and the Bank of England cutting their UK growth forecasts today, said:

“It’s unwelcome that both the EU Commission and the Bank of England have cut their expected growth forecasts for the UK.

“Labour has been cautioning for several months now about growing global uncertainty, something that George Osborne has only woken up to recently.

“We should be particularly concerned that, in Mark Carney’s own words, the “accelerating fiscal consolidation” is part of the reason for why UK growth is expected to dip below past averages.

“This is further evidence that the Chancellor’s austerity programme is driven by ideology and could be undermining the potential of the UK economy.”