UNIONS told the government to go further and “release the handbrake on public investment” on Friday as the British gross domestic product (GDP) was up 0.4 per cent in July.

The TUC said the new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, which also found three-monthly growth also up 0.4 per cent, was a sign “the government is starting to break the cycle of stagnation that the country has been stuck in for over a decade.”

But general secretary Paul Nowak tempered the positive signals, warning that “international headwinds are building again.

“To deliver good growth in every postcode and reindustrialise the country, the government must go further and release the handbrake on public investment.”

Mr Nowak demanded the government “make full use of the existing fiscal rules to unleash investment in the economy, along with a root and branch review of the OBR.”

He also said the government “should use the Budget to tax banks fairly and boost family budgets.”