Recession fears grow as UK economy shrinks - Beith

5.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 24th Oct 2008

Commenting on the release of UK GDP figures today, which show that the economic output fell by 0.5% in the third quarter, Sir Alan Beith, MP for Berwick upon Tweed, said:

"The British economy has shrunk for the first time in 16 years. It is very likely now that we are heading into a recession and a large part of the problem is that we don't know how much worse it is going to get, and for how long. This uncertainty is having a huge impact on banks, businesses and ordinary people in the North East and we have already seen some redundancies in the construction sector.

"We are seeing some worrying trends in the North East. The government must focus on the plight of ordinary people at this crucial time, now that the big banks have been bailed out."