Gail’s bakery boss says Britain is ALREADY in recession as he tears into ‘disastrous’ Rachel Reeves: ‘Everything has gone wrong!’

Britain is already in a recession thanks to ‘disastrous’ measures imposed by Labour, according to Gail’s Bakery chairman Luke Johnson.

Speaking to GB News, Johnson delivered a gloomy outlook after Chancellor Rachel Reeves urged MPs to go ‘further and faster’ in the hunt for economic growth.

Asked by Tom Harwood what has gone ‘right and wrong’ during Labour’s time in Government, Johnson said: “Nothing has gone right and almost everything they have done has gone wrong”.

He added: “I think they are a disaster. I accept they were handed a pretty awful set of circumstances.

“Post-war high levels of tax and debt and much higher interest rates than we have experienced before.

“There were many of the elements that could lead to a recession. I’m now convinced there will be a recession in 2025, we’ve probably already entered one.

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“The mood amongst the entrepreneurs and investors I speak about this country with is more depressing than I can remember in 40 years of business.”

Nana Akua then put it to Johnson that Sir Keir Starmer has previously warned Britons to expect hardships before the economy is salvaged.

The chairman of the popular high street bakery chain agreed with the PM’s analysis in some respects – saying the recession he expects to happen will only last a maximum of 18 months, but “we have to get there”.

He added: “Unemployment is rising and investment in this country is faltering.

“The sentiment, which is all important, is falling. There is this stark comparison with America where it’s utterly clear the new administration is full of optimism and confidence.

“They will unquestionably boost investment and employment and cheer on entrepreneurs and enterprise.

“Meanwhile, this Government has the Employment Rights Bill, 150 pages of red tape placed on businesses, that’s fine for big companies but small, medium sized businesses that don’t necessarily have large HR departments, 150 pages of extra regulation is not going to encourage them to create jobs.

“We are going to see a decline in work, we’ll see a decline in taxes and this Government will not meet its expectations for growth.

“The risk is, we get into a vicious spiral of a weak currency, which means we import inflation, we can’t lower interest rate because of that and we then have to put up taxes. This Government has no appetite to do what is necessary.”

In a speech on Wednesday, Reeves is expected to outline her plans to radically alter planning rules and accelerate building and infrastructure projects.

At a meeting of the parliamentary Labour Party on Monday, Reeves told MPs there would be “no easy routes” to growing the economy, adding the Government must “start saving yes” to changes that could create wealth.

“Have we done enough? No. We must go further and faster because the cost of living pressures are still very real for working people across Britain, and the only way we can turn this around is through economic growth,” she told them.

“Will that growth come easy? No. There are no easy routes out. There are always reasons for government to say no. Over the past six months as chancellor, my experience is that government has become used to saying no. That must change. We must start saying yes.

“Now is the chance for us to shout about that potential and the brighter future ahead. Because no one else is going to do it.”