Dear Jack,

Net Zero isn’t working. It has made the energy crisis worse. Millions of people around the UK are poorer, colder and hungrier. British manufacturing is being hammered. Over 80% of the population will ration their energy this winter and cold homes will kill thousands.

A huge number of jobs have already gone overseas. In 2013 over 230,000 people were employed in offshore oil and gas. It’s fallen to 130,00 people today. Car giant BMW are moving production of their electric Minis to China, where energy is cheap. And Net Zero rules are threatening to close our largest steel plant.

This is an utter disgrace. We have trillions of cubic metres of shale gas under our feet. This national treasure would solve our energy crisis and help reduce CO2 emissions.

We all care about the environment and we want clean air. We also want a safe and secure future for our children. But the Government bet the house on renewable energy and they never had a plan. They don’t know the cost and they can’t be trusted.

It didn’t have to be like this. We share the North Sea oil and gas fields with Norway. Our governments squandered these resources while the Norwegian Government invested in them. Now they have a sovereign wealth fund worth $1.3 trillion which owns a chunk of Regent Street. Norway has also become the main oil and gas supplier to the UK.

Labour and the Tories turned us from being a net exporter of energy into a large net importer. This is a strategic disaster and has compromised our national security.

They have learned nothing. In response to the energy crisis even the EU have changed their minds to say gas is ‘green’. But after 12 years of gross negligence our government still won’t lift the ban on shale gas.

Clean coal technology is disastrously under-funded. Investment in North Sea oil and gas has fallen. Modern nuclear power stations keep getting delayed. Yet the Government still gives up to £15 billion in subsidies to renewable energy every year.

It’s time for an open and honest debate. No more smears and threats. The evidence says we need a re-think. Arctic sea ice has increased since 2012. Coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef has returned to record levels. The earth has become greener over the last 30 years, partly due to higher CO2 levels. The science on climate change is not settled.

But in Westminster, Net Zero has become a religion. So, the answer to the worst energy crisis in generations is more renewable energy that barely moves the dial.

It won’t reduce global CO2 either. The UK produces only 1% of the world’s emissions. China produces 29%. Yet we have to cut our emissions when theirs are increasing as fast as ever. Net Zero is making us net poorer while allowing more emissions overall.

Some say we need to quadruple the number of wind turbines in the UK to meet demand. But the more we rely on wind, the more gas we need when the wind stops. You can’t keep wind in a barrel and battery storage technology is years away from bridging the gap.

Solar power isn’t efficient enough either. Some estimate that we will need to cover up to 12% of the country in solar panels to meet our needs. “That’s nearly an area the size of Wales.”

Net Zero also has environmental costs. Wind turbines damage wild life, blight the landscape and end up in landfill. Vast numbers of solar panels need replacing and they contain toxic materials. Governments don’t know what to do with this hazardous waste.

Renewables won’t create enough jobs either. Much of the industry is overseas-owned and makes vast profits at British consumers’ expense. Solar panels are made in China, and wind power only creates a fraction of the jobs needed.

Many renewables also depend on the mining of lithium and rare earth metals. In some countries that means child labour, polluted water, depletion of fertile land, respiratory problems and more CO2 emissions. All ignored by virtue signalling campaigners in the west.

We can do so much better than this. The UK still sits on vast energy reserves of coal, oil, natural gas, shale gas and lithium. Renewables have a role too. But cheap energy, economic growth and national security must come first.

Only Reform UK will safeguard our future. We will fast track new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea. Start the production of small modular nuclear reactors. Build high efficiency combined cycle gas turbines. And unlock our vast reserves of shale gas. We must also invest in clean coal.

New technology means greener, cheaper and safer use of these resources in the UK. Including British lithium mining. Let’s level up by drilling down.

Reform UK will establish a sovereign wealth fund so generations to come will benefit from these resources. We will launch a proper compensation scheme for local communities, so people are treated as partners not problems. But no more expensive subsidies for renewables.

In the meantime, Labour and the Tories will make the problem worse. Even leading newspapers in the USA say Net Zero is bankrupting the UK. Now some want to take away our freedom with ‘climate lockdowns’. Towns like Oxford are trialling ‘15 minute’ neighbourhoods. Canterbury is following. Drivers will need to apply for a permit to go outside their zone.

WATCH OUR VIDEO ABOUT NET ZERO

Net Zero means net colder, net poorer, net jobless. For some it will mean winter becomes a struggle between life and death.

This madness has to stop. We have the resources and skills to compete at a global level and win. Reform UK are the only UK political party with a proper costed energy strategy. Our plan will solve the energy crisis and ensure we are self-reliant for 50 years or more. We will cut emissions, boost our economy, create thousands of jobs, slash energy bills and make sure we are all warm for many winters to come.

With Thanks,

Richard Tice