Richard Tice has slammed the Prime Minister as “delusional and incompetent” in the wake of the Government’s Budget, warning that public confidence has been “shattered”.

The deputy Reform UK leader accused the Chancellor of misleading the country and presiding over a “complete and utter car crash” in the run-up to and during the Budget itself.

Rachel Reeves announced her highly anticipated Budget last week after months of speculation.

Among some of the measures, the Chancellor announced a series of tax hikes and scrapped the two child benefit cap.

Speaking to GB News, Mr Tice said: “Nigel Farage has written to the ethics adviser because it’s quite clear that the Chancellor has misled the British people.

“There are serious questions as to whether or not she’s complied with the ministerial code. I have also written to the Prime Minister.

“I’ve said that, essentially, she’s presided over a complete and utter car crash, a number of car crashes in the run up to the Budget and the Budget itself. Confidence is shattered.

“I don’t know what delusional world the Prime Minister is living in with his speech today.

GB News host Olivia Utley asked: “There’s also just some very interesting research out this morning on the scrapping of the two child benefit cap.

“It shows that a person with three children who’s not working could be earning the equivalent of the take home pay of someone on £71,000.

“That is obviously an insane state of affairs. Reform UK has been talking about the alarm clock generation, people who should be getting up to go to work and aren’t.

“But Reform UK also backs scrapping that two child benefit cap. How could we be sure that under a Reform government, we wouldn’t see the same ballooning welfare benefits bill?”

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

• WATCH: Tulip Siddiq hits out at ‘trial by media’ after Bangladesh sentencing
• ‘How can GB News viewers trust you?!’ Christopher Hope grills PM as he defends Rachel Reeves
• Nigel Farage sends message to ‘hypocritical’ Tories after attacks on Labour Budget: ‘Don’t forget!’

Mr Tice said: “You need to get your facts right, because we have put very strict conditionality. We’ve said that it’s lifting the cap is just for working parents on low incomes. That’s the key difference.

“British citizens. That’s what we’re saying. And by doing that, you reduce the sort of obsession with immigration from from so many in the sort of the establishment class.

“So ours is a very carefully prescribed adjustment in order to prevent a situation, for example, that you can be working

“Let’s say you’re working in the steel industry and you’ve got three children. You lose your jobs because of net stupid zero.

“All of a sudden you could be a victim of that cap. That is not fair. That’s what we’re trying to correct.”

Questioning Mr Tice on borrowing, GB News host Tom Harwood said: “You said that the Prime Minister is talking about borrowing coming down, and that is clearly nonsense because borrowing is going up.

“Could two things be true at the same time, in that borrowing today is higher than it was yesterday before the Budget?

“For the first three years of the budget period, borrowing is higher, but because of the effects of fiscal drag and the frozen thresholds, the tax take rises year on year as more people earn more money by the final year of the forecast. Borrowing is down, according to the OBR.”

In response, Mr Tice accused the Prime Minister of “lying to the British people” over borrowing, calling it “a disgrace”.

Explaining the distinction, he said: “You are talking about the debt. The Prime Minister is talking about the deficit. He’s using annual figures; I’m talking about cumulative figures.”

He added that while the Prime Minister claimed borrowing was being cut, the numbers prove it is actually rising, a discrepancy he said exposes the Government’s misleading narrative.