Brexit boss Nigel Farage is now the most trusted politician to handle the British economy, which has continued to falter under the leftist government of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
An Opinium survey of 2,050 UK adults this week found that trust in the Labour Party government’s ability to manage the economy has collapsed. According to the poll, Prime Minister Starmer and his economic chief, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, have become the least trusted major politicians on financial issues, with just 24 and 19 per cent, respectively, putting their faith in the Labour leaders.
Conversely, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has become the most trusted political leader to steer the British economy, with the survey finding that 34 per cent of the public trust him to turn around the nation’s financial situation.
Mr Farage has argued that the British economy has been artificially propped up through government borrowing and mass migration, both of which have managed to increase the bottom-line GDP numbers, but have in reality made the lives of the British people more expensive.
The Reform boss has thus called for an end to mass migration and to deport those illegally in the country. This would have the effect of driving up wages while lowering the pressures on the heavily strained housing market, which Farage has also said is in need of a building spree, to aid younger people getting onto the property ladder.
He has also identified the energy sector as a key area of potential economic growth, through scrapping wasteful government subsidies for so-called green energy projects — which typically benefit companies in communist China — and to restart gas and oil projects and investments in the North Sea.
Farage argues that the exorbitantly high cost of energy in Britain is hindering the country’s ability to be competitive in manufacturing and in emerging energy intensive fields such as AI.
On the other hand, the country is bracing for another likely tax hike from Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves in her Autumn budget, rather than prioritising economic growth, as the party promised ahead of last year’s elections.
According to the Opinium survey, 77 per cent of the country expects Labour to raise taxes again, which six in ten said would be the wrong move, compared to just 19 per cent who would support it.
In terms of politics, a majority of Britons (56 per cent) believe that Prime Minister Starmer should resign, compared to just 26 per cent who want him to remain in his position. It is even bleaker for Chancellor Reeves, with 57 per cent thinking she should step down as the head of the Treasury.
Meanwhile, Farage’s Reform UK party continues to hold a commanding lead in the polls at 33 per cent, followed by Labour at 20 per cent, the Conservatives at 17 per cent, the Liberal Democrats at 12 per cent, and the Greens at 11 per cent.
