RISHI SUNAK has no plan to stimulate growth, the TUC slammed today as Britain’s economy continued to “flatline” for more than a year.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed that the economy grew by just 0.1 per cent over the first quarter of the year, with a 0.3 per cent decrease in March.

The ONS said growth during the whole quarter was impacted by falls for the retail and wholesale sector, and industrial action.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt called the figures “good news,” adding that the government needs to “stay focused on competitive taxes, labour supply and productivity” to reach its growth priority.

But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the latest figures were “nothing to celebrate.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said the Prime Minister “still doesn’t have a plan to stimulate growth and get us out of this rut.”

He said: “Our economy has been flatlining for more than a year.

“And [Mr Sunak’s] ministers are making things worse by holding down pay while inflation is over 10 per cent.

“Without pay growth, families are forced to cut back their spending, and business lose customers.

“That’s why a competent government would put pay growth at the heart of the UK’s economic plan.”

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves hit out at the government for “continuing down a path of managed decline of low growth and high taxes.”

“Despite our country’s huge potential and promise, today is another day in the dismal low growth record book of this Conservative government,” the Labour MP said.

“The facts remain that families are feeling worse off and we’re lagging behind on the global stage.”

London shop owner Jenny Blyth said: “Small businesses are fighting to survive while our government continues to act like everything is fixed and ticking along nicely.

“Here on the ground, in the small business community, people are shutting their doors every single day and losing something that they fought to build, and it is heartbreaking.

“Our customers are so incredibly loyal but we can’t expect them to support us when their own bills are rising, too, and they are struggling to put food on the table.

“I’m trying to be optimistic but I’m exhausted and I’ve never had to fight so hard.”