'It's Liz Truss all over again!' Keir Starmer rails against Nigel Farage as Labour rolls out 'Project Fear 2.0'

"In opposition, we said Liz Truss would crash the economy and leave you to pick up the bill. We were right," Starmer said.

"We were elected to fix that mess. Now in Government, we are once again fighting the same fantasy - this time from Nigel Farage.

"Just like Truss, [Farage] is using your family finances, your mortgage, your bills as a gambling chip.

"Liz Truss bet the house and lost. £45billion in unfunded tax cuts, with no means to pay for them. Markets reacted, the economy tanked and we're all still paying the price for mortgages, rents and bills that spiralled out of control. I won't let that happen."

Truss herself levelled an attack against her successor-but-one in office as Starmer travelled to Merseyside to campaign.

"Repeating lies is not going to fix the economy," she spat.

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"Gilt rates are now higher than when I was in office. Britain is headed for a real economic crisis - not the confected crisis that the establishment used to sabotage my policies."

Turning to more personal attacks against Farage - whose party enjoys a seven-point lead over Labour in the Red Wall - Starmer continued: "This is the man that said Jaguar Land Rover deserved to go bust.

"He said that because he didn't like an advert that they made... When they needed support, I protected those jobs.

"Would Nigel Farage have done the same? Absolutely not."

Starmer's "desperate" attempt to keep Reform away from Downing Street comes more than four years ahead of the next General Election.

But it came just days after data from Merlin Strategy, exclusively shared with GB News, condemned Labour to a distant second place in its traditional heartlands, where Farage has challenged Starmer to a head-to-head debate in a working men's club.

And today following the PM's speech, Farage said: "In the last 24 hours I have been attacked by Starmer, Badenoch, Swinney, Sarwar and just about everybody else - except for the voters.

"We must be winning."

The Reform chief also compared today's address to the attacks he sustained while successfully campaigning for Brexit, calling it "Project Fear 2.0".