A question for Nigel Farage – why is your nationalist party so obsessed with destroying British jobs? | George Monbiot
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- CBI compiled figures showing the net zero economy directly employs >300,000 full‑time workers, supports 1.1 million jobs and is worth £100 bn to the UK.
- CBI reports the oil and gas sector provided 27,500 jobs in 2023 and supported a total of 205,000 jobs, roughly one‑tenth to one‑fifth of net‑zero employment.
- UK government announced in October a plan to create 400,000 green‑energy jobs for people leaving fossil‑fuel work, school leavers, ex‑offenders, veterans and the unemployed.
- Richard Tice of Reform UK claimed “decades and decades and decades” of North‑Sea gas, yet the article notes gas output will fall 97 % by 2050 and new licences take about 28 years to produce.
- Transition Economics estimates a Reform government would destroy 500,000 jobs in its first three years, rising to 1.4 million by 2040.
- Reform UK receives about two‑thirds of its funding from wealthy donors with oil and gas interests.
- Nigel Farage told Durham council workers with climate‑related jobs to seek alternative careers “very, very quickly”.
Why it matters: Oil‑and‑gas workers and communities reliant on fossil‑fuel employment would lose up to 1.4 million jobs under a Reform government, while the net‑zero sector—already supporting 1.1 million jobs and slated for 400,000 new roles—stands to gain, highlighting a stark conflict between political rhetoric and employment realities.
