‘This jumble of misinformation and gaslighting is just a cover to allow Big Oil bosses to rake in even more billions in profits’
Reform UK has announced a raft of anti-net zero policies, with MP Richard Tice stating that if they win the next election, they would impose a “windfall tax” on renewable energy firms.
Tice said net-zero had been “a con” and that it was to blame for higher energy bills and deindustrialisation in the UK.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, the deputy leader said: “We plan to win the next general election, and we’ll scrap net stupid zero and we will do whatever it takes to bring […] down the cost of living.”
Tice also said Reform would legislate to require National Grid to place power cables underground instead of erecting electricity pylons.
Despite Farage saying he supports farmers’ call for Labour’s inheritance tax on farms being scrapped, Reform has said farmers who install solar panels on their land would not be able to claim inheritance tax relief if they were in power.
In another ironic twist, Reform MP Rupert Lowe, who owns a farm in Cheltenham, recently installed solar panels and battery storage systems on his land. He also has shares in Kona Energy, a firm which works on battery energy storage projects.
Greenpeace UK head of climate Mel Evans said: “Nigel Farage’s tribute act to Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ will ring hollow to many people struggling with their energy bills – it doesn’t contain a single viable solution.
“This jumble of misinformation and gaslighting is just a cover to allow Big Oil bosses to rake in even more billions in profits while leaving households exposed to more floods and storms and to the volatile gas markets that have pushed up bills.”
Evans added: “It’s gas prices that have sent our bills through the roof, not renewables. Farage’s quack cure will only worsen the disease by making us even more reliant on gas and the dictators controlling its price. Instead of letting Farage seize the initiative on energy costs, the government should respond by looking into practical solutions to bring down bills, like moving green levies to general taxation or forcing fossil fuel giants to pay.”
A spokesperson for National Grid said: “Delivering energy in the most affordable way possible for bill payers is critical.
“We assess all technology types when planning new routes – underground cables, offshore cables and overhead lines – against engineering and environmental considerations, affordability for bill payers and feedback from the community. Our assessments are made in line with government planning policy”.
Director of think tank More in Common, Luke Tryl, said in a post on X that “Reform’s net-zero announcements may well be their first big mistake since their rise in the polls”.
He added that trying to reverse the shift to renewables “lands well on the wrong side of British public opinion”.
Polling by More in Common conducted in August 2024 found that 42% of voters from all political backgrounds support the target to reach net-zero by 2050, and only 16% think it is a ‘bad policy’.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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