Nigel Farage was branded ‘completely out of touch’ and accused of spreading fake news after crass claims that mental illness is being ‘overdiagnosed’ by GPs
Nigel Farage has been branded “completely out of touch” after claiming doctors are “overdiagnosing” mental illness and creating a “class of victims”.
Campaigners accused the Reform UK leader of overlooking facts in order to fuel culture wars after making the “wildly inaccurate” remarks. Mr Farage said the rising number of children diagnosed with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is a “massive problem”.
He went on to suggest GPs should not be allowed to diagnose SEND children – even though they cannot carry out assessments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism. The MP for Clacton said: “I think we are massively – I’m not being heartless, I’m being frank – I think we are massively over-diagnosing those with mental illness problems and those with other general behavioural disabilities.
“And I think we’re creating class of victims in Britain that will struggle ever to get out of it.” The comments sparked an immediate backlash.
Mel Merritt, head of policy and campaigns at the National Autistic Society, said: ” Nigel Farage ’s comments are wildly inaccurate and show that he’s completely out of touch with what autistic children and adults have to go through to get a diagnosis or any support at all.
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“For the record, absolutely no one has got an autism diagnosis through the GP – this is just incorrect, wrong, fake news. Children with SEND and disabled adults, including autistic people, are not victims who are being ‘over diagnosed’.
“They are people who face huge delays and long fights to get the most basic support across every aspect of their lives, including diagnosis, education, health and social care.”
Mr Merritt called on Mr Farage to desist from making such claims, saying: “Spreading misinformation only perpetuates stigma and makes life harder. We’re calling on all politicians to drop the political point scoring and stand up for their autistic and other disabled constituents.”
And Minesh Patel, of mental health charity Mind, said the Reform leader was choosing to “demonise those who are struggling most in our society”. He said: “The only victims in this discussion are facts – which are continuously overlooked in favour of fuelling culture wars.”
Lib Dem education spokeswoman Munira Wilson said it was a sign he was “laying the groundwork to axe crucial special needs provision in councils he’s got his eye on”.
She said: “If Nigel Farage had spent any time speaking to parents in his constituency, he’d know he’s barking up the wrong tree. The special needs crisis needs urgent repair – not his lazy rhetoric. We need a National Body for SEND to end the special needs postcode lottery now.”
Speaking to journalists in Dover, Mr Farage said: “I think you’re the family GP, and I’ve known your family for generations, and you’re saying to me there’s a real problem here with depression, or whatever it may be, it’s quite hard for me as your GP to say ‘no’.
“I don’t think any of these allocations should be done by family GPs. I think it should be done independently.”
Latest data shows the number of children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) in England rose by 71%, up by 180,000, between 2018 and 2024. And 1.24 million were given special educational needs support in 2023/24.
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