'When will they wake up?' EU economy plummets as gap between Brussels and the US reaches £1.27TRILLION

Two graphs have revealed how the EU economy has plummeted against the US as the gap between the pair reaches £1.27trillion.

Think tank Facts4EU, alongside Stand for Our Sovereignty and The Campaign for an Independent Britain, shared exclusively with GB News just how the bloc's economy is taking a dip against its international ally.

The graphs, based on newly-released figures by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), show the shocking £1.27trillion gap between the US and the EU.

For decades, the Brussels bloc took the lead in its economy size (excluding inflation), consistently taking the crown by some margin.

But, ever since the 2008 financial crisis, the EU's lead began to dwindle and, post-2022, the EU's economy was said to have started taking a nosedive.

In 2008, using Purchasing Power Parity, Brussels' eocnomy exceeded that of the US by £622billion.

And, by 2026, the US took the lead, according to the IMF data, to £1.27trillion.

Lord Redwood, a former Single Market Minister and former Secretary of State, told GB News: "The UK's growth all the time we were in the EEC/EU was around just half the level the economy achieved in the 20 years before joining.

"The growth slowed more the longer we stayed in, and the more laws and taxes the EU imposed.

"Now Mr Draghi in his excoriating report has said the EU has fallen further and further behind in recent years owing to excessive regulation.

"The EU has burdened its member states with dear energy, with carbon taxes and emissions charges, and extensive regulation of every industry and every farm.

"The EU code-based law is far less flexible than the Anglo-Saxon common law, with entrepreneurs and businesses impeded from innovating and getting costs down. It is no wonder the EU has grown so slowly."

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The think tank's chart shows the acceleration in the EU’s downfall has become extreme, which Facts4EU attributes to a combination of the 2022 Ukraine energy shock and the US tech boom.

Taken together, what was a slow divergence has very quickly turned into an economic rout, the report added.

In terms of comparative average annual growth rates of the two economies, the US has been growing more than 60 per cent faster than the EU over the past two decades.

Since 2008, the Tories struck up a trade deal with 11 countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, leading to Facts4EU to argue that it is more logical for Britain to align itself more closely with the US.

Lord Redwood added: "All the trillion-dollar companies listed on world stock exchanges are US, and are digital. Europe's largest companies are much older, smaller, more traditional businesses. The EU has chosen to watch from the sidelines as digital explodes.

"The EU is becoming a digital colony of the US dependent on US chips, software, social media, intelligent search, computers, mobiles, and now AI.

"As Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Nvidia, Alphabet, Meta and the other digital giants win millions of European customers, sign them up to services, and scoop up billions of dollars in revenues, the EU sets out to regulate and tax digital a bit more.

"When will the EU wake to seeing their over-regulation, their legal system, their excessive government intervention, their high taxes and dear energy all conspire to keep them in the slow lane?"