Deputy Leader of the Reform UK party, Richard Tice, has said that the UK has done enough in working towards climate targets, as the global CO2 emissions continue to rise.
Tice’s comments come as the Met Office confirmed the UK has seen the hotttest summer on record, which has increased concerns regarding climate change.
Ahead of Reform UK’s national conference in Birmingham, Tice was questioned on the topic and batted away the concerns regarding the extreme weather.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “I get criticised all the time, but it’s true isn’t it? People have enjoyed the warm weather, I’m 61. I remember 1976, half a century ago, it was a similar summer day.”
The heatwave in 1976 saw drought as temperatures peaked at 35.9C in Gloucestershire.
The deputy leader added that the climate has always changed and always will but according tot Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) natural causes cannot explain the particularly rapid warming seen over the last century.
Following the announcement of the rise in the energy price cap, Tice claimed that climbing bills are the fault of net zero targets, which he says has made no difference to global CO2 emissions.
The deputy leader also said how the warm climate helps the wine industry and believes the UK’s efforts in this space have gone unrewarded.
He said: “I think we should celebrate our successes such as the English wine and sparkling wine industry.”
According to the Office for National Statistics, an estimated 367 million tonnes of CO2 were emitted by the UK last year, which is a 54% reduction since 1990. At the same time, the global burning of fossil fuels released more planet-warming emissions than ever before in 2025.
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