TORY ministers are holding back growth and damaging the economy by suppressing key workers’ pay, unions said today, after official figures showed stalling economic activity. 

Britain’s gross domestic product (GDP) failed to build on a surprise 0.4 per cent increase in January by recording zero growth in February, the Office for National Statistics confirmed.

The independent public body said a rise in construction and retail activity had been offset by teachers and civil servants downing tools nationwide.

The country is experiencing its biggest strike wave since the 1980s as take-home pay continues to fall amid 40-year high double-digit inflation.

Despite the flat performance, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt claimed the nation’s economic outlook is “brighter than expected” and repeated his prediction that Britain would avoid a recession this year.

Mr Hunt’s upbeat forecast was in stark contrast to Wednesday’s warning from the International Monetary Fund, which predicted a 0.3 per cent slump for the country in 2023, the worst of any so-called “developed” nation in the G7 group.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of “holding back growth” by claiming inflation-matching public-sector wage boosts are unaffordable.

“Sunak and his ministers have sucked the life out of the economy by holding down the pay of millions of workers,” Mr Nowak stressed.

“Everyone’s cutting back their spending, so businesses are taking a hit too, but wages are the fuel in the tank that our economy needs.

“Ministers should stop fighting to make workers poorer — a competent government would put pay growth at the heart of the UK’s economic plan.”

Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “Despite our enormous promise and potential as a country, Britain is still lagging behind on the global stage with growth on the floor.

“The reality of growth inching along is families worse off, high streets in decline and a weaker economy that leaves us vulnerable to shocks.”

The Leeds West MP insisted the latest economic figures are “exactly why Labour’s mission to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 is so important.

“It’s that level of ambition that we need to strengthen our economy, get our high streets thriving again and make families across every part of Britain better off.”