BRITAIN’S economy is “on life support,” a union leader warned today as official figures showed a fall in gross domestic product (GDP).

September’s 0.1 per cent contraction piled additional pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of her Budget, due in two weeks’ time.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the figures “show that the UK economy is on life support. We have low growth, rising unemployment and a deepening cost of living crisis. Workers and communities cannot continue to pay the price.

“Our economy cannot grow without serious investment in UK PLC. We need the vision of well paid jobs to create growth. The Chancellor must grasp the nettle and back Britain,” she added.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said Ms Reeves should “stay the course and use the Budget as an opportunity to keep supporting living standards” and put more money in people’s pockets.

Mr Nowak suggested the Bank of England should also play its part by cutting interest rates.

Ms Reeves got contrary advice from former premier Tony Blair, however, whose eponymous institute demanded a package slanted entirely towards meeting big business needs.

The institute’s director of economic policy Tom Smith said the Budget must “set out a comprehensive pro-business plan,” including cutting taxes, scrapping stamp duty on share transactions and watering down the employment rights Bill going through Parliament, by ending day one protections for workers.

Ms Reeves herself acknowledged that “there’s more to do to build an economy that works for working people.

“I will take the fair decisions to build a strong economy that helps us to continue to cut waiting lists, cut the national debt and cut the cost of living,” she said.

The GDP slump in September was partly attributed to a cyber attack on car manufacturer JLR, which halted production for weeks.

But growth was already flat in August and had contracted in July. And there was more bad news from trade figures showing that British exports to the US had fallen to their lowest level in nearly four years as a result of President Donald Trump’s trade war.