"From ‘Net Stupid Zero’ to Net Zero Growth," says Richard Tice on Reeves' economic crisis

"The cabinet has less business experience than an intern in the House of Commons gift shop," says Andrew Griffith MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade

Rachel’s words on economic crisis fail to impress opposition parties nor reassure markets

Are we looking at Rachel's 'economogeddon', always blamed on someone (or something) else?

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2026

Facts4EU sought the views of opposition politicians and show reality of “Rachel's 'economogeddon'”

On Tuesday in Parliament, Chancellor Rachel Reeves made an emergency statement on the economy in an attempt to reassure the House, the markets, and the public. It seems she failed on every level. In her statement, Ms Reeves referred to a subject of great concern to most people: the cost and security of our energy supply:

This second comment will have reassured people that the Government is now allowing the exploration and use of our large fields of North Sea gas and oil which would make a massive difference to the country. In fact she was only referring to licences already granted by the last government, which have been held up. There is no change to policy and no new oil and gas exploration is allowed.

On food, Ms Reeves said:

“On trade, I can confirm to the House that we are aiming to conclude negotiations with the EU this year on the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS] agreement, which will directly impact food prices in our shops.”

It certainly will "directly impact food prices". Here are the thoughts of an expert, speaking exclusively to Facts4EU &GB News:

So what is the state of the economy?

On Monday Sir Keir Starmer finally convened an emergency COBRA meeting. Not to talk about Iran's attacks on British territory, as might be expected. Instead the purpose was to discuss the cost of borrowing, with Government bond prices going through the roof. This is something Rachel Reeves did not mention on Tuesday,

Last week and this, we have seen a raft of basic economic indicators released individually. These are easily overlooked when the news agenda is so full. In addition to sovereign giveaways like Chagos and Gibraltar, the Iran war continues to dominate. In addition we have Rachel Reeves and the Government deflecting onto issues like Brexit.

In light of the new figures, we present a snapshot and unfortunately none of the news is good. We asked the main political parties how bad things are and what the Government should or could be doing to improve our prospects as a country.

How is this Government doing on some of the basics which determine how well off we all are?

1. Economic growth
2. Inflation
3. Unemployment overall
4. Youth unemployment
5. Cost of borrowing

To keep life simple, we have chosen five metrics which affect us all, one way or the other. In each case we present the rate the Government inherited and the latest rate, which we have called "rate now" for convenience, although the date of the latest data varies.

When the Government came to power, the UK had the fastest growth rate in the G7. It is now amongst the slowest.

There was no growth (0.0%) in January 2026 compared to December 2025. This followed growth of only 0.1% in December. The Treasury’s March 2026 survey of independent forecasts showed an average forecast of 0.9% for the whole of 2026 and we believe this will turn out to have been optimistic.

The temptation with inflation is to say the reason it is higher is because of international pressures, such as the oil price. Unfortunately this does not help the Government.

The inflation rate across the 27 EU countries in January was 2.0% - the same rate the UK Government inherited when it came to power. This also happens to be the Bank of England’s target figure. Yet now in the UK it is 50% higher, at 3.0%. This varies from month-to-month of course. In December it was even worse, at 3.4%.

Quite disingenuously, Rachel Reeves constantly quotes inflation rates during the previous government of 11%, failing to mention this occurred briefly during the COVID period. The fact remains she inherited an inflation rate at the Bank of England’s target of 2% and under her watch it has consistently been higher.

This represents an astonishing 24% increase in the rate of unemployment after more than one year-and-a-half of a Labour government. On top of this we have seen a substantial increase in the number of people now on permanent benefits for life, as result of being written off work for what appear in many cases to be very minor reasons.

As can be seen in our chart, the UK’s youth unemployment rate always used to be lower than the EU’s. Now, under this government’s policies, particularly on the Minimum Wage and the new Employment Rights Act, employing young people is increasingly less attractive to employers. The Government was warned about this but Rachel Reeves dismissed the warnings.

The above excludes all those who are not in education either, but who still are not looking for a job. This is a subject we have reported on several times.

“Labour's infamous tax on jobs with higher National Insurance along with a higher Minimum Wage for young workers has led to mass unemployment of the young.

“Instead of helping them into jobs, government policy makes all young people tense as they scramble to find a first opportunity of work. One in six are tossed onto the unemployment scrap heap before they can begin their working lives.”

- The Rt Hon Lord Redwood, Conservative former Secretary of State, 25 Mar 2026

“Labour have cemented Britain’s economic doom loop with two anti-growth budgets, putting our public finances on life support. Misguided decisions like the jobs tax have hammered small businesses and made it harder than ever for young people to get a job.”

- Daisy Cooper MP, Dep. Leader and Treasury Spokesperson, Liberal Democrats, 23 Mar 2026

When we first drafted this report, the rate was 4.43%, which is already a high figure. To give some context, Rachel Reeves regularly mentions the rate under Liz Truss, talking about her ‘disastrous’ mini-budget with Kwasi Kwarteng. In fact, the one-day peak under Liz Truss was 4.37% on 10 October 2022.

Under Rachel Reeves, for the past 15 months it has consistently been higher than the one-day peak under Liz Truss. On Friday 20 March, after we had started researching this report, it went up to 4.96%. Using Rachel Reeves’ own terms, this means that Rachel Reeves is much more disastrous than Liz Truss.

[ Sources: ONS | HMRC | St Louis Fed ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 26 Mar 2026

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