Exclusive – China and Russia Laughing at Boris Johnson’s ‘Net-Stupid’ Green Agenda: Richard Tice

Kurt Zindulka / Breitbart News
Kurt Zindulka

Reform UK leader Richard Tice said that China and Russia are “laughing” at the United Kingdom as Prime Minister Boris Johnson virtue signals with his “net-stupid” green agenda.

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart London, Richard Tice, who is standing for Parliament in the special by-election in the Old Bexley and Sidcup constituency next month, warned that the Tory government’s Great Reset green agenda will only serve to empower the likes of China and Russia — two of the world’s top polluters.

The leader of Reform UK, formerly the Brexit Party, said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to reach net-zero carbon emissions by the year 2050 is in fact “net-stupid” as it will “send hundreds of thousands of British jobs to China and hundreds of billions of our money to China.”

Mr Tice also noted that the green push will likely see Britain reliant on Russia and France for energy.

“Why would you buy [gas] from Putin? Why would you buy electricity from Macron?” he questioned — perhaps thinking of France’s recent threats to restrict electricity supply to the British Crown Dependency of Jersey amid a fishing dispute.

At the same time, the net-zero agenda would fundamentally change the way Britons lead their lives, Tice said, explaining that the green policies will impact everything from the cars people can drive to the amount of meat they can eat and the amount of money they can have in the bank.

“These are life-changing decisions for the whole nation, forever, at a time when literally other nations like China and Russia are looking at us, going: ‘you silly old fools, we’re literally laughing at you’,” he said.

The Reform UK leader argued that instead of buying gas from abroad, Britain should focus on extracting shale gas within its own territory, with the government’s own estimates forecasting that the Bowland Shale deposits could provide 50 years of energy at current usage, for example.

The government has failed to tap this resource, he said, because they have been “cowardly” in the face of “a couple of eco-zealots and eco-bullies”.

Tice said that using British shale gas would provide the country with security amid global supply chain issues, which have been exacerbated by leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin allegedly holding up supplies for political gain.

Earlier this week, gas prices across Europe and the United Kingdom shot up again after promised boosts in Russian gas supplies failed to come through. The rising cost of energy has seen energy suppliers across Britain and the EU go bankrupt over the past months, as they were locked into long-term price guarantees, which were made untenable by the increase in demand for energy when lockdown restrictions were eased.

The French have also threatened to raise the price of energy supplied to Britain and the Channel Islands if London fails to give in to demands on the number of fishing licences handed out to French boats to fish in British waters.

On top of opening up shale gas for extraction, Tice said that Britain should invest in cutting-edge technologies, such as next-generation nuclear power, hydrogen, and tidal power, arguing that this would boost domestic industry and enable Britain to sell technology abroad for additional profit.

“I want [these technologies] designed and manufactured here in the UK, not in China. That’s how you create money and jobs and keep it here in the great United Kingdom. That is literally how you make us great again,” he said.

Mr Tice, alongside the former leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, has been at the forefront of the call for a public referendum on the net-zero agenda. A leading figure in the Brexit movement, Tice said that the mainstream media’s obsession with climate change, like the EU before it, shows that “we are on the right side of history”.

“I’m knocking on doors every day,” he said. “Trust me, the people know that something is wrong, they’re gut instinct tells them that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Referencing Boris Johnson’s plan to replace gas boilers, Tice said that many voters on the campaign trail have told him that they are not willing to give up their boilers, with many reticent to transition — at heavy cost — to supposedly greener heat pumps.

“They know it’s not right. So trust the people, don’t trust the media, don’t trust the consensus political class.”

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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