Osborne insists UK still a 'safe haven' despite weak growth

George Osborne has defended the government's economic policies after new figures showed a slowdown in growth, and claimed the UK is a 'safe haven' compared to other nations.

The Office for National Statistics today revealed the economy grew by just 0.2% in the second quarter of the year, down from the 0.5% for the first three months of the year. The Chancellor said jobs were still being created in the private sector and, at a time when other countries were facing "a lot of instability", he said Britain was a "safe haven in the storm". "There's enormous instability in the euro area, there's a big argument in the US about debt and here in Britain we've got a plan that has provided stability in a very unstable world and that's brought interest rates down and...