Reform to 'wage war' against net zero 'lunacy' after local elections
4 May 2025, 09:24
Reform has said it will "wage war" against the "lunacy" of net zero after resounding successes in the local elections.
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Richard Tice, the party's deputy leader, said it will use "every lever" to block renewable developments in the ten council areas it now controls.
The Labour government has pledged to achieve net zero by 2030 to combat climate change.
Many on the right, including Reform, view net zero as the reason for the UK's high energy bills. Net zero advocates say energy costs are due to high wholesale gas prices.
Reform's push to axe renewable projects comes are linked to a broader crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives - which the party views as wasteful.
Mr Tice said he had written to developers of renewable projects in Lincolnshire, where the party won the mayoral election.
He said: "I’m now going to write again to them, saying now that we’ve won these elections, you need to be under no illusion. This is war. We will wage war against you people and your terrible ideas.
“If you think that you’re going to do this in the county of Lincolnshire, you are going to regret it. You’re going to waste your money.
“It’s going to be very painful financially, so you might as well take your money and your daft ideas elsewhere.”
Alex Wilson, a member of the London Assembly with Reform UK, said that his party was the only one that "doesn't subscribe to the absolute lunacy of sacrificing our economy for Net Zero."
Reform UK's Alex Wilson AM defends party's plan to block Net Zero
He said: "It's making our bills more expensive. We have the highest electricity costs in the Western world, that's had a huge impact on industry, it's why the automotive industry is on the floor, it's why the chemicals industry is suffering.”
“The impact of net zero on energy prices, on industry, on people's bills, is absolutely catastrophic.
“It’s a big part of the contribution to the results we had on Thursday's elections, ten councils we now control and another four that we're the largest party in them.”
Mr Wilson said that his party would do whatever it takes to keep pushing this issue.”
“What we are against is giving up vast swathes of prime agricultural land for these huge solar farms," he added.
“We want to make better use of our own natural resources to continue to provide the cheap and reliable and secure energy supplies going forwards, so oil, gas, going to keep using those.
