Chris Leslie MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, commenting on Office for National Statistics changes to the National Accounts, said:

“These accounting changes to the way GDP is measured - for instance to include drug dealing and prostitution - do not mean families or businesses are better off.

“GDP growth has been revised up in every year since 2008. But it’s still the case that working people are substantially worse off under this government, that the recovery was choked off in 2010 and that it is the slowest on record.

“Working people want a plan to tackle the cost-of-living crisis they still face, not complacent claims from Ministers that everything is fixed or that accounting changes mean we’re somehow better off.”

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