Farage Warns ‘Recession is Coming’ as Reform Duo Savage Reeves Over ‘Catastrophic’ GDP Collapse

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Reform UK leaders offer to ‘help’ Government after UK economy shrinks by worst margin since 2023

Nigel Farage has issued a stark recession warning after Britain’s economy suffered its sharpest monthly contraction in over 18 months, with his Reform UK deputy Richard Tice blasting Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s “fantasy economics.”

The Reform UK leader took to social media with an ominous prediction after official figures showed the UK economy shrank by a worse-than-expected 0.3% in April – the biggest monthly drop since October 2023.

“Reeves has not fixed the economy! The recession is coming,” Farage declared, as the devastating GDP data laid bare the scale of Britain’s economic crisis.

TICE LEADS SAVAGE ATTACK

Richard Tice, Reform UK’s deputy leader, led the charge against the Chancellor, branding the figures “catastrophic” and warning that Reeves’s spending plans were “holed below waterline already.

“Her fantasy economics,” he jabbed, as the worse-than-expected contraction – triple what economists had predicted – sent shockwaves through Westminster.

The Office for National Statistics revealed that GDP plummeted 0.3% in April, far worse than the 0.1% decline analysts had forecast, marking a dramatic reversal after four consecutive months of growth.

‘DISAPPOINTING’ ADMITS REEVES

Finance minister Rachel Reeves was forced to admit the GDP numbers were “clearly disappointing” – an understatement that drew scorn from Reform UK as she faces mounting pressure over her economic credibility.

The catastrophic figures come just a day after Reeves unveiled her multi-year spending review, dividing up more than £2 trillion of public spending between government departments.

TRUMP TARIFFS DEVASTATE UK

The economic collapse was driven by a devastating hit to British exports, with the ONS revealing that April saw “the largest monthly fall on record in goods exports to the United States” following Donald Trump’s tariff announcements.

British goods exports to the US collapsed by an unprecedented £2 billion ($2.7 billion) – the largest monthly drop since records began in 1997.

After increasing for each of the four preceding months, April saw the largest monthly fall on record in goods exports to the United States with decreases seen across most types of goods, following the recent introduction of tariffs,” said Liz McKeown, the ONS’s director of economic statistics.

REFORM OFFERS TO ‘HELP’

In a remarkable intervention, Tice told GB News yesterday that he feared much of the Chancellor’s spending spree would be “wasteful” and offered to step in to help the Treasury “make massive savings.

“They should stop wasting money. They should start making massive savings… I’m happy to help the Government produce those savings,” he added.

The Reform UK deputy’s offer came as he revealed his previous warnings had proved prophetic, noting: “Just four weeks ago, I said the OBR’s forecast at the Spring Statement was delusional and we would be borrowing much more – the numbers are actually worse than I forecast.

PROPERTY MARKET ADDS TO PAIN

A fall in real estate and legal activity after the end of a temporary tax break on house purchases contributed 0.2 percentage points to the 0.3 percentage point fall in output, compounding the trade war damage.

The dire economic data shows:

• Industrial output fell 0.6%
• Manufacturing plunged 0.9%
• Only construction showed growth, rising 0.9%
• Services sector stalled
• Trade deficit ballooned to £23.2 billion

BANK OF ENGLAND DILEMMA

The Bank of England had already warned that Trump’s tariffs would knock 0.3% off British output over three years, but April’s catastrophic figures suggest the damage is hitting far faster than predicted.

Sterling immediately tumbled on the news, falling by a quarter of a cent against the dollar as markets digested the scale of the economic damage.

REFORM SURGES IN POLLS

The economic crisis comes as Reform UK, led by former Brexit campaigner Farage, is now ahead of Labour in opinion polls and outperformed it in English local elections last month.

Conservative finance policy chief Mel Stride warned that Reeves’ plans were unachievable without further tax rises, telling parliament: “She will have to come back here in the autumn with yet more taxes, and a cruel summer of speculation awaits.

WORSE TO COME?

As Farage’s recession warning reverberates through Westminster, economists are increasingly concerned about Britain’s economic trajectory.

Though the door is probably closed on an interest rate cut next week, these downbeat figures increase the likelihood of a policy loosening in August, despite lingering concerns over high inflation,” warned Suren Thiru, economics director at ICAEW.

With Reform UK now positioning itself as the real opposition to Labour’s economic policies, Farage and Tice’s attacks on “fantasy economics” appear to be resonating with voters increasingly worried about their economic future.

As Britain stares down the barrel of a potential recession, the Reform UK duo’s offer to help “make massive savings” may start to look increasingly attractive to a Government running out of options and credibility.

Image credit:
Nigel Farage by Peter Glyn Broster, originally published via Flickr on 10 November 2013 and released to the public domain under CC 0 1.0 on Wikimedia Commons (Nigel Farage London (49668342718).jpg)