Ed Balls, potential leader of the UK opposition, has dismissed potential growth in the UK as GDP figures released today show a 1.2 pct growth.

The figure had been revised up following a boom in construction however according to Ed Balls, ally to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, George Osbourne is 'ripping out the foundations of the house' as public spending cuts and a global slowdown are set to hit UK shortly.

George is a "growth denier" said Balls after the Labour leadership candidate claimed that cuts to public spending is denying the country the growth it needs to emerge out of the recession, and keep momentum going.

"We have just experienced the biggest global financial crisis in a century, an event as momentous in historical and financial terms as war, famine or plague," he said.

Mr Balls argues that consensus indicates spending cuts, but Labour needs to distinguish itself and stand up to consensus in order to provoke a reaction to their views - Clement Attlee a post-war Prime Minister who continued spending after the second World War to create the NHS, welfare state and reconstruction of Britain was one such example.

FTSE GDP