Reform, the party that claims to be obsessed with saving public money and supporting the every-day working person, is pursuing an environmental policy that in one county alone will cost more than 12,000 jobs and risk almost £1 billion in local investment.
But that doesn’t seem to stop Tice claiming Reform councils are going to block building what he calls “net stupid zero” infrastructure, whilst deliberately making any efforts by central government to continue the policies cost the tax-payer who knows how many millions of extra public money:
Says Tice:
We will attack, we will hinder, we will delay, we will obstruct, we will put every hurdle in your way. It’s going to cost you a fortune, and you’re not going to win. So give up and go away.
This is in Lincolnshire, the county that includes the area most at risk of floods. That council has already shut down a committee that actually deals with flood risk – an action that was described as “reckless, foolhardy and wrong”.
The sheer environmental lunacy of banning green projects aside, a sometimes little appreciated fact is that green policies can create lots of jobs and bring in a ton of investment. As well as help save us from already-deadly environmental catastrophes of course.
It’s not like Reform voters are even all that opposed to pro-environmental policies.
The majority support new wind and solar farms and policies to tackle the climate crisis, according to polling this month by the ECIU.
As you’d expect, many organisations are appalled at Reform’s plans, pointing out the external costs of this pursuing this misguided ideology:
RenewableUK’s executive director of policy, Ana Musat:
Any blanket ban on renewables would be costly for bill payers – the ban on onshore wind cost £5.1bn in the financial year before it was lifted – that’s £182 for every UK household.
Shaun Spiers, the executive director of Green Alliance:
.What is really odd is Richard Tice’s apparent determination to drive up energy costs and increase our dependence on imported fossil fuels. That might please Reform UK’s funders, but it’s unlikely to please its voters.
Melanie Onn, a Labour MP near the areas involved:
Reform’s war on the green economy is actually a war on jobs and investment and flies in the face of what hard-working businesses and families need. Reform’s dangerous plan is a threat to British jobs and British workers.
Now Reform have a platform in Greater Lincolnshire, they must come clean on whether they’re prepared to risk damaging the local economy and risk making thousands of workers unemployed.