Reform UK Delegates Deny Climate Science, Then Demand Heat Action — SkimNews
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- Richard Tice, Reform's deputy leader, delivered a conference speech under a banner reading "Collect £5m, burn the planet," which was promptly removed; delegates in the hall cheered him on after he repeatedly dismissed the summer's heatwaves and drought.
- Reform delegates in Birmingham voiced open climate skepticism, with one citing the discredited claim that CO2 was "10 times higher" during ice ages, another calling the issue "overhyped," and a third mocking predictions that Norwich would be underwater.
- Many of the same delegates who dismissed climate science blamed the government for failing to protect people during the heatwaves — calling for air conditioning in hospitals and schools, criticizing small windows in new-build homes, and demanding more support for farmers.
- University of Sheffield emeritus professor Michael Jacobs attributed the incoherence to the Reform leadership peddling "myths and lies," calling assertions that net zero would be "economically ruinous" or that the UK is acting alone "simply wrong."
- Polling cited in the article contradicts the party's base from its leadership: roughly a quarter of Reform voters back the net zero target, about 70% want higher taxes on fossil fuels, and majorities would accept renewable energy sites locally — despite leadership opposition.
- Labour climate minister Katie White said Reform was "out of step with voters" and pleaded with the party not to turn climate change "into another culture war," pointing to government investment in flood defences and wildfire response.
Why it matters: Reform's leadership frames net zero as economically ruinous and opposed by voters, but polling shows roughly 70% of its own backers want higher fossil fuel taxes and a quarter support the net zero target — meaning the party's public stance outruns even its own supporters' views, leaving delegates caught between denial of the science and frustration at the government's lack of adaptation measures.
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