LONDON — Nigel Farage, one of the biggest advocates of Britain’s departure from the European Union, reckons Brexit has failed.
Speaking on the BBC’s Newsnight program Monday night, the former Brexit Party leader — one of the most famous figureheads of the Brexit cause — admitted the U.K. had not benefited economically from leaving the bloc.
“What Brexit has proved, I’m afraid, is that our politicians are about as useless as the commissioners in Brussels. We’ve mismanaged this totally,” Farage said, responding to a raft of data suggesting there had been a negative economic impact of Brexit.
“Brexit has failed,” he added. “We’ve not delivered on Brexit and the Tories have let us down very, very badly.”
Asked if the U.K. would have been better off remaining in the EU Farage insisted he didn’t “think that for a moment.”
The U.K. economy has struggled to rebound following the triple shocks of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the turbulence of Britain’s exit from the EU.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicts that British GDP growth will be the second worst after Russia among major economies; while the government’s economic watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, has pointed the finger at Brexit for a significant downturn in U.K. trade intensity.
Farage, who now hosts a show on the U.K. channel GB News, refused to rule out a political comeback. He is currently the honorary president of the populist right-wing Reform U.K. party, which was formed from the Brexit Party he founded.
Current Reform U.K. leader Richard Tice said the party would stand against every Tory MP at the next election, as it looks to squeeze the Conservatives’ vote from the right.