Unions demanded a sharp reality check yesterday after mediocre economic growth figures sparked an outpouring of joy from Chancellor George Osborne.

Tory MPs went wild with excitement in the Commons when Mr Osborne announced that Britain's GDP had grown by an estimated 0.7 per cent in the last quarter of 2013.

This leaves the nation's economy 1.3 per cent smaller than it was six years ago, with manufacturing languishing at just 11 per cent of the total.

Union leaders and Labour MPs pointed out that working people are suffering a continuing slump in living standards, with more wage earners forced into poverty than ever before.

Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable also spoiled Mr Osborne's party by making a speech warning of an unbalanced investment-starved economy plus another property-linked boom and bust cycle.

But Tories cheered, cheered and cheered again as Mr Osborne boasted at Treasury question time that the GDP figures were "a boost to the economic security of working people."

He proclaimed: "It is more evidence that our economic plan is working."

He even had the audacity to claim that growth was broadly based, "with manufacturing growth best of all."

A horde of gung-ho Tories shouted down Labour MP Sheila Gilmore when she attempted to point out that construction activity had actually fallen by 0.3 per cent.

Speaker John Bercow called for order as baying Tory MPs also attempted to drown out Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls.

Mr Balls pointed out that the average working person is £1,600 worse off since this govenment came to power in 2010.

Tory backbenchers guffawed with laughter when ex-Bullingdon Club chump Mr Osborne poked fun at Mr Balls's economic predictions and declared: "What they need on that side of the house is new crystal balls!"

Mr Balls retorted scathingly that it had been a "fabulous" ploy by Mr Osborne to tell "a joke about my name being Balls."

Amid the juvenile high jinks, the Chancellor failed to rule out a further cut in tax to 40p for people earning over £150,000 - a demand voiced by London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Preliminary figures from the Office for National Statistics showed a 0.7 per cent rise in GDP in the fourth quarter of 2013, with the economy growing by 1.9 per cent in 2013 as a whole.

The production sector grew by 0.7 per cent in the last quarter, with manufacturing up 0.9 per cent. Services grew by 0.8 per cent and agriculture by 0.5 per cent.

A fall of 0.3 per cent in the construction sector was a direct result of government policies, protested construction union Ucatt general secretary Steve Murphy.

Huge cuts to infrastructure spending programmes had "totally undermined investment and confidence" in the construction industry, said Mr Murphy.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey declared that the "recovery" was simply passing many people by, with many more workers struggling with insecure work and low wages.

"We need a balanced recovery and more emphasis on manufacturing," he said.

Public service union Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said an increase in consumer spending was largely based on credit card debt, since wages had fallen behind inflation.

"This is not the basis for a long-term, sustainable economic strategy."