Richard Tice has come out swinging to defend Reform’s anti-Net Zero plans – that are now not official policies, rather just a “direction of travel”. Reem Ibrahim of the free-market think tank IEA took to X, joining other usually sympathetic Reform voices to slam the plans as “genuinely anti-capitalist policies. Scrap the legally binding Net Zero target. Don’t stifle innovation with ridiculous policies like this.” Tice didn’t take too kindly to the criticism…
Clueless Reem
Just embarrassing https://t.co/9ArhLZksAP
— Richard Tice MP 🇬🇧 (@TiceRichard) February 13, 2025
After Tice (60) went in again on Reem (22), posting “You clearly don’t understand economics or care about ordinary people’s bills and how to reduce them.” Reem thought it would be helpful to provide a detailed thread on how making one form of energy deliberately more expensive won’t help lower bills. Ding Ding:
1⃣ Windfall tax on renewable energy power
Windfall taxes that are designed to reverse the gains from bad Government policy can be pro-enterprise.
This appears to be more anti-technology than pro-enterprise. You don’t get lower bills by making renewable energy more expensive.
— Reem Ibrahim (@ReemAmirIbrahim) February 13, 2025
Tice valiantly defended each policy from attack—though not without lobbing a few barbs at Reem along the way:
My point is there are not proper standards and regulations in U.K. for these and even with them, the fires are toxic, cannot be put out and are dangerous
Being blase about this is disgraceful https://t.co/ty6BqxO20w
— Richard Tice MP 🇬🇧 (@TiceRichard) February 14, 2025
Might be a pointless scrap by the time Reform’s manifesto actually takes shape…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”