On BBC Radio 4, Reform Party Nigel Farage demonstrated how severely unfit he is for leadership by saying that UK decarbonisation “makes zero difference” because it’s all China’s fault.
Nigel Farage: ‘we should do nothing’
He said:
I think we should scrap the net zero targets… they’re going to make zero difference to the world…you better go and talk to the Chinese… we make no difference whatsoever
Farage also claimed we should be “mining our own coal”. The UK’s last coal power station closed in September 2024.
In response, the Green Party branded the Reform head a “performer, a con artist”. They pointed to DeSmog research that shows Farage’s party has accepted £2.3 million from fossil fuel interests, big polluters and climate deniers since 2019.
Reform received £200,000 from First Corporate Consultants, which Terence Mordaunt owns. He is chairman of the notorious and opaquely funded Global Warming Policy Foundation, which denies man made climate change is happening.
Correspondingly, Nigel Farage has previously outright questioned the science behind the climate crisis. On GB News in 2021, he said:
What annoys me… is this complete obsession with carbon dioxide almost to the exclusion of everything else, the alarmism that comes with it, based on dodgy predictions and science.
Yet 97% of publishing scientists agree that man made climate change is happening, primarily because of burning fossil fuels. There has been a steady increase in global temperature since the industrial revolution. 2024 saw record breaking rainfall in countries such as UAE and Brazil and severe hurricanes in the US, with climate change disrupting weather patterns.
Reform aren’t to be trusted
On Radio 4, Nigel Farage claimed we should be “self sufficient” through mining coal. But even if you deny man made climate change, publicly owned renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuels and avoids pollution.
A Green New Deal would also provide energy security, controlling inflation and protecting us from volatile global gas markets. Studies show coal is not even competitive with renewables, given how much more affordable they are.
There are many reasons to question Reform. The idea they are an anti-establishment party is laughable. Shadow justice secretary and Tory MP Robert Jenrick has referred to his party and Reform as a “coalition” And in the upcoming local elections, over 60 Reform candidates are former Tory councillors, candidates or activists.
Don’t be fooled.
Featured image via the Canary
