Labour have accused Rishi Sunak of being out of touch and performing a “victory lap” after it emerged the UK was out of recession.
Mr Sunak claimed that “things are starting to feel better” hours after figures showed the economy had grown by 0.6 per cent over the first three months of this year.
But shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper labelled the Conservatives as "out of touch" for celebrating.
She told Sky News: "The Government seems to think we should be grateful for the fact that we are no longer in recession and have low growth instead.
"I think this still reflects the fact that working people are still worse off than they were 14 years ago, that people are still paying more on their mortgages, prices are still much higher and actually people are feeling really squeezed.” She added: "The idea of the Conservatives trying to do a victory lap on all of this and expecting everyone to think: 'It's all wonderful and we've never had it so good,' just shows how out of touch they are."
Mr Sunak insisted that confidence in the economy was growing as he visited a business facility in Eynsham, Oxfordshire.
Speaking to Siemens staff, he said the UK had “undoubtedly” had a difficult couple of years.
But he added: “Actually now things are starting to feel better.
"Confidence is returning to the economy and the country, and I hope that you're starting to feel that too."
Economists had predicted there would be a smaller improvement for first quarter of this year, of 0.4 per cent.
The figures are the strongest quarterly growth since the end of 2021.
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