Richard Tice has slammed Labour after the UK economy ground to a halt in the latest blow to Rachel Reeves’s chancellorship.
Reform UK’s deputy leader branded the shock “an absolute catastrophe” with current figures failing to include ramifications of the escalating Iran war.
UK gross domestic product (GDP) dropped to zero per cent over the course of January, the Office for National Statistics confirmed.
The shift is down from a measly 0.1 per cent growth back in December.
Reform’s spokesman for Business, Trade and Energy told GB News: “We were expecting this because all of the figures have been too optimistic.
“It’s no surprise if you raise taxes, if you make it harder to employ people, particularly young people, then don’t be surprised if businesses reduce employment numbers, reduce investment plans, and growth disappears down the Swanee.
“This month is further doom and gloom. I mean, let’s just remind people in the 80s and 90s, we were growing up between two and a half and four per cent every year.
“Now, Rachel Reeves, she celebrates if you get sort of 0.1, or 0.2 per cent… This isn’t growth. It’s an absolute catastrophe, particularly when bills are going up.
‘The cost of living is the number one concern of everybody,’ Mr Tice told GB News
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“The cost of living is the number one concern of everybody, and everything that this Government does is just adding to costs for businesses, and they have to pass it on to consumers.”
The “catastrophic” figures will come as a shock to forecasters, who previously predicted the economy would grow by 0.2 per cent.
Now, Ms Reeves’s latest dire figures could be in for even further deterioration after the economy reveals the economic impact of the Iran war, for which the data has not currently accounted.
Asked if the Government had fallen victim to being a part of a globalised economy, vulnerable to volatile markets, Mr Tice said that was “absolute nonsense”.
Rachel Reeves delivered her Spring Statement just a few days after the Iran war broke out
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“Why is the US economy growing at four per cent a year?” he asked. “Because they’re smart enough to use their own energy treasure that they enjoy under their feet.
“It’s called shale gas. It’s gas. And this Government and the previous Conservative Government deliberately imposed the foolishness of net stupid zero on us all.”
He went on to blame the high electricity and energy costs, partnered with extra tariffs, policy costs and green levies, on the net zero scheme.
“It’s our own stupidity of our governing class,” he fumed.
“And that’s why Reform says we’ll scrap net stupid zero immediately after winning a General Election, so that we can bring the bills down. We can bring the cost of living down.
“This is the number one defining issue separating the various parties,” he declared.
While Labour has vowed total commitment to the bid to become a clean power by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050, the Conservatives have amended the timescale of achieving the target, due to cost issues.
The Greens and the Liberal Democrats, however, have advocated for faster targets with the Lib Dems hoping for net zero by 2045 and the Greens aiming for 2030.
