{"id":378059,"date":"2025-05-13T11:12:49","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T09:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=378059"},"modified":"2025-05-13T11:12:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T09:12:51","slug":"british-politics-in-turmoil-after-reforms-wins-greens-deputy-even-attacks-net-zero-from-the-left","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=378059","title":{"rendered":"British politics in turmoil after Reform\u2019s wins \u2014 Greens Deputy even attacks Net Zero from the left"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From JoNova<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jo Nova<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform UK is transforming British politics<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Tories have already dropped Net Zero policies, but now the effects are spreading to Labour and the Greens. Australian spineless political parties should note that voters reward parties who lead the way in dumping Net Zero and immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just the fear of what might happen at the Council Elections meant Tony Blair, the former Labour PM, dropped the bombshell that Net Zero was unworkable,<\/a> and that people were being silenced because they were terrified of being called Climate Deniers. A wave of skepticism was sweeping across Europe and Blair wanted to jump in ahead to steer the rebellion somewhat and promote his own plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reform stormed the English council elections in a seismic way \u2014 winning 677 seats,<\/a> twice as many as the Conservatives, and more than sixfold than Labour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now even the Guardian<\/em> are writing headlines asking if the Labour party will abandon Net Zero<\/a>? In the end the article is another advert for Net Zero (aren\u2019t they all) but it\u2019s obvious the Guardian editors are worried that Labour might be tossing the idea around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two weeks ago, this would have been unthinkable.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The win for Farage has rattled the cages so much that even some Greens are saying that Net Zero is hurting the poor (only thirty years too late). The Deputy Leader of the Green Party in England and Wales (which is not the same as The UK Greens) is running for the Party leadership on a whole new thing called \u201cEco-populism\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The eco-populist against net-zero<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Megan Kenyon, New Statesman<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zack Polanski is looking to lead the Green Party, and to challenge Labour\u2019s climate policy from the left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Reform\u2019s primary battlegrounds with the government is over climate policy, as Farage wields net zero as a culture war sledgehammer. Polanski similarly hopes to put the pressure on Labour over this issue \u2013 but from the left. \u201cI\u2019m really angry about net zero,\u201d he told me, \u201cI\u2019m angry that the government are expecting some of the poorest in this country to step up to net zero, expecting people to install heat pumps or expecting people to get a train rather than a plane, even though a plane is a much cheaper option\u201d<\/strong>. Taken at face value, these words could well have been spoken by a Reform candidate or councillor \u2013 almost as though it is out of Farage\u2019s own playbook. \u201cWhile I may even agree with Nigel Farage\u2019s diagnosis of the problems, it\u2019s very clear that he doesn\u2019t really intend to do anything about those things,\u201d Polanski said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His solution (of course) is to tax \u201cbusinesses\u201d \u2014 (because they never sell to the poor, and wouldn\u2019t pass on those taxes\u2026. right?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polanski believes the government should target UK businesses and the wealthy to shoulder the cost of the green transition via a wealth tax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voters flock to parties who stand up for them against the namecallers. (And it\u2019s a shame the Nationals didn\u2019t choose Matt Canavan to lead them!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Tories have already dropped Net Zero policies, but now the effects are spreading to Labour and the Greens. Australian spineless political parties should note that voters reward parties who lead the way in dumping Net Zero and immigration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":378064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818920,691818350,691818154,691818262,691821401],"class_list":{"0":"post-378059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-climate-deniers","9":"tag-green-party","10":"tag-net-zero","11":"tag-the-guardian","12":"tag-tony-blair","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/OIG-2023-07-13T172936.972.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1AlJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":406917,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=406917","url_meta":{"origin":378059,"position":0},"title":"The race is on to be a climate skeptic now","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/10\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Sir Keir Starmer was a star at the last COP meeting in Azerbaijan, but this year he doesn\u2019t even want to go to the next COP meeting in Brazil. Apparently, his aides \u201care worried\u00a0about being\u00a0criticized by the Reform UK Party.\u201d Only two years ago, Starmer was criticizing Rishi Sunak for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Carbon Tax\"","block_context":{"text":"Carbon Tax","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=carbon-tax"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQN9eX2H9tTiyTsG-y-lu63mhoKIA_vYbA6o45Wmi4zKU3vdGk7wOAMAr4YEyB4W3edJhgLtbF06J9It2OayUiZWqkv2VLBSHZ__PQpPDPl2rVAoiKmwI3vX2vJcoU8dzaUineDyOKskw8VoH1dIikCCEnqkJQ.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQN9eX2H9tTiyTsG-y-lu63mhoKIA_vYbA6o45Wmi4zKU3vdGk7wOAMAr4YEyB4W3edJhgLtbF06J9It2OayUiZWqkv2VLBSHZ__PQpPDPl2rVAoiKmwI3vX2vJcoU8dzaUineDyOKskw8VoH1dIikCCEnqkJQ.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQN9eX2H9tTiyTsG-y-lu63mhoKIA_vYbA6o45Wmi4zKU3vdGk7wOAMAr4YEyB4W3edJhgLtbF06J9It2OayUiZWqkv2VLBSHZ__PQpPDPl2rVAoiKmwI3vX2vJcoU8dzaUineDyOKskw8VoH1dIikCCEnqkJQ.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQN9eX2H9tTiyTsG-y-lu63mhoKIA_vYbA6o45Wmi4zKU3vdGk7wOAMAr4YEyB4W3edJhgLtbF06J9It2OayUiZWqkv2VLBSHZ__PQpPDPl2rVAoiKmwI3vX2vJcoU8dzaUineDyOKskw8VoH1dIikCCEnqkJQ.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQN9eX2H9tTiyTsG-y-lu63mhoKIA_vYbA6o45Wmi4zKU3vdGk7wOAMAr4YEyB4W3edJhgLtbF06J9It2OayUiZWqkv2VLBSHZ__PQpPDPl2rVAoiKmwI3vX2vJcoU8dzaUineDyOKskw8VoH1dIikCCEnqkJQ.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":273936,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=273936","url_meta":{"origin":378059,"position":1},"title":"Great Reset U-Turn: British Mainstream Political Parties are Road Testing Anti-Green Policies","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"16\/08\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"There will be an awakening. The Uxbridge anti-ULEZ victory shows there is a limit to British patience.","rel":"","context":"In \"Anti-Green Policies\"","block_context":{"text":"Anti-Green Policies","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=anti-green-policies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0772287575.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0772287575.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0772287575.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0772287575.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0772287575.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":335832,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=335832","url_meta":{"origin":378059,"position":2},"title":"When Is a Mandate Not a\u00a0Mandate?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/07\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ll keep this short, as plenty of people have had their say in the media already about the mismatch between the votes cast (or not cast) in the recent UK general election and the numbers of seats obtained by the various political parties that stood in it.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0net-zero-istock-1190148959.jpg?fit=1200%2C761&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0net-zero-istock-1190148959.jpg?fit=1200%2C761&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0net-zero-istock-1190148959.jpg?fit=1200%2C761&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0net-zero-istock-1190148959.jpg?fit=1200%2C761&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0net-zero-istock-1190148959.jpg?fit=1200%2C761&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":337632,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=337632","url_meta":{"origin":378059,"position":3},"title":"E.U. elections offer climate and energy policy lessons for U.S.","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"26\/07\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"For years, particularly in Western Europe, Green activists and left-leaning politicians successfully frightened voters into accepting rising prices and cumbersome lifestyle changes to battle a so-called climate change \u201ccrisis.\u201d But this seems to have abruptly ended in 2024.","rel":"","context":"In \"Euro elections\"","block_context":{"text":"Euro elections","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=euro-elections"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0European-Union-EU-barrier-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0European-Union-EU-barrier-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0European-Union-EU-barrier-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0European-Union-EU-barrier-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0European-Union-EU-barrier-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":274571,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=274571","url_meta":{"origin":378059,"position":4},"title":"Climate Hype Backfires on\u00a0Greens","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/08\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"But voters continue to move against the Green tide","rel":"","context":"In \"Net zero\"","block_context":{"text":"Net zero","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=net-zero"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/6fd5ff98caf79e1e.jpeg?fit=1125%2C1068&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/6fd5ff98caf79e1e.jpeg?fit=1125%2C1068&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/6fd5ff98caf79e1e.jpeg?fit=1125%2C1068&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/6fd5ff98caf79e1e.jpeg?fit=1125%2C1068&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/6fd5ff98caf79e1e.jpeg?fit=1125%2C1068&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":367106,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=367106","url_meta":{"origin":378059,"position":5},"title":"Farage Trashes Net Zero, Promises to \u201cRe-industrialise Britain\u201d","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"21\/02\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Nigel Farage, whose Reform Party is on track to win the next election, just slammed the impact of Net Zero on the British Economy.","rel":"","context":"In \"AI capacity\"","block_context":{"text":"AI capacity","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=ai-capacity"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0AA1txTUW.jpeg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0AA1txTUW.jpeg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0AA1txTUW.jpeg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0AA1txTUW.jpeg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0AA1txTUW.jpeg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=378059"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":378065,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378059\/revisions\/378065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/378064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=378059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=378059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=378059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}