Nigel Farage’s uncompromising attack on Britain’s climate commitment is facing the driving force of his party’s expanding support base, and the vote shows that young reformed British voters have more sympathy for net-zero and renewable energy than their leaders.
The former UKIP and Brexit head dismissed Britain’s 2050 net zero goal as “complete and total madness”, while his deputy Richard Tice also named reformed energy spokesman Richard Tice “mass fraud”. Their manifesto tone includes removing the legal net zero target, ending subsidies for Green Force, taxing renewable developers, and even levying farmers with solar panels installed.
But new research that shares more in common with the I paper shows that such hard-line rhetoric is increasingly tied to the party’s own voters, especially those who have joined it since the 2024 general election.
Among new supporters, the opinion on net zero is very balanced: 30% support abandoning the target, but 35% object to the move, and another 35% sit on the fence. Support for renewable energy remains stronger, with 56% of recruits and 50% of 2024 voters saying they believe investment in green energy is positive. The party’s proposal to tax solar panels found little support, with only 24% of new supporters and 29% of existing voters being praised.
These findings highlight potential election fault lines. Farage’s populist climate suspicion may provide excitement for his base in some constituencies, but it is possible that the broader appeal of restricting reforms at the moment the party is trying to attract unsatisfied conservatives and labor voters.
The position of the big reform figure has doubled, with the party’s Greater Lincolnshire Mayor Mrs. Andrea Jenkins recently claiming she doesn’t think climate change is “one thing”. Nationwide, however, support for renewable energy remains overwhelming. Another YouGov survey of Friends of the Earth found that 80% of British people favor expansion of renewable infrastructure. Even among the reformed voters (the most skeptical group), almost two-thirds support investment in the industry.
Political strategists warn that discord between leadership and grassroots can be expensive. “The danger of reform is that its climate policy becomes a ceiling, not a springboard,” a senior campaign adviser told Business Affairs. “If they want to be a protest party, they will have to bridge the gap between rhetoric and reality.”
