Britains economy slid into Early 1990s recession in late 1990; it shrank by a total of 6% from peak to trough, and unemployment increased from around 6.9% in spring 1990 to nearly 10.7% by the end of 1993. However, inflation dropped from 10.9% in 1990 to 1.3% three years later. The subsequent economic recovery was extremely strong, and unlike after the early 1980s recession, the recovery saw a rapid and substantial fall in unemployment, which was down to 7.2% by 1997, although the popularity of the Conservative government had failed to improve with the economic upturn. The government won a fourth successive election in 1992 under John Major, who had succeeded Thatcher in November 1990, but soon afterwards came Black Wednesday, which damaged the Conservative governments reputation for economic competence, and from that stage onwards, the Labour Party (UK) was ascendant in the opinion polls, particularly in the immediate aftermath of Tony Blair election as party leader in July 1994 after the sudden death of his predecessor John Smith (Labour Party leader).. By how many percent did unemployment increase between spring 1990 and the end of 1993?