Even Reform voters prefer solar to fracking, poll finds

While the likes of Nigel Farage and others on the right have sought to undermine clean energy and the fight against climate change, a poll has found that more Reform voters would back a solar farm than fracking as the best way to create energy in their local area when forced to pick between the two.

With the climate emergency taking its toll, as more extreme weather events take place across the globe, progressives have been pushing for cleaner energy alternatives to fossil fuels.

The likes of Farage and Reform however have pushed for fracking, telling energy firms last year to ‘get ready for fracking’.

Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, has been banned many times by different prime ministers since 2011 over concerns about earthquakes and environmental impacts.

However, polling by More in Common has found that Reform voters don’t seem to share Farage’s enthusiasm for fracking.

The poll found that more (43%) would back a solar farm than fracking (23%) as the best way to create energy in their local area when forced to pick between the two.

Alasdair Johnstone from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit said: “Reform’s pro-fracking, anti-solar stance appears not only at odds with broad public opinion, but also the opinion of their voters who would prefer a quiet solar farm over a noisy fracking pad in their area. That divergence is also playing out between the national level of the party and local councils some of which have said they don’t want fracking in their area.

“Public opposition aside, Reform would find it tough to emulate Trump’s pro-fracking push as British geology is very different to that in the US. Reform voters clearly back renewable energy which is helping to reduce the UK’s dependence on volatile gas markets and foreign imports.”