A group of nearly 60 Labour MPs has written to Richard Tice challenging the Reform UK deputy leader’s pledge to rip up green energy contracts if his party wins power and questioning if he appreciated the impact this could have on the economy.
Led by Polly Billington, the East Thanet MP, and signed by 58 others who have sustainable energy projects in their constituencies, the letter said Tice appeared to have “under-appreciated the growth potential of the green transition” when he wrote to eight leading energy firms warning that to bid for new contracts carried “significant” risk.
The MPs’ letter said growth in the clean energy economy was 10% in 2024, and asked Tice: “When you made these threats, were you aware you were threatening one of Britain’s strongest drivers of growth?”
It also cited estimates from the Confederation of British Industry saying the industry supported more than 950,000 often well-paid jobs in the UK, many outside London and the south-east, and asked if Tice saw the CBI as part of the “unquestioned liberal progressive orthodoxy”, which he has blamed for promoting net zero measures.
Tice’s letter, an example of which he tweeted, warned energy firms against taking part in the next series of bids to apply for guaranteed minimum prices for clean power provision, formally known as allocation round 7 (AR7).
If a Nigel Farage-led government took power in Westminster, Tice told the companies, it would reassess net zero commitments, adding: “As a first step, we will seek to strike down all contracts signed under AR7. You should treat any long-term revenue streams as politically and commercially unsafe.”
In their letter, the Labour MPs asked Tice if he was aware that such contracts were not made with the government, but with the Low Carbon Contracts Company, a private company owned by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
They said: “This means a potential future Reform UK government would not have the ability to ‘strike down’ any contracts signed through this process, unless you are willing to destroy investor confidence in the whole of UK industry by ripping up contract law. Can you confirm if it is Reform UK policy to rip up contract law?”
Speaking to the BBC on Thursday afternoon, Tice appeared to row back on the specific commitment to scrap AR7 contracts, saying a Reform government would only oppose “any form of variation” to them, something his letter did not appear to set out. Asked about the apparent change, Tice said “some people may have misread the wording of the letter”.
The junior energy minister, Michael Shanks, said Tice’s letter and subsequent interview were indicative of “clown-car economics”.
Scrapping clean energy projects could be politically risky for Reform given the number of jobs they support. The party’s mayor for Hull and East Yorkshire, Luke Campbell, has previously said he would back such plans if they create jobs in the region.
The party’s wider stance on doubting human-created climate change and the need to tackle it is also at odds with majority voter views in the UK.
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In an interview with Times Radio on Thursday, Reform’s Greater Lincolnshire mayor, Andrea Jenkyns, said she did not believe climate change exists, saying it was just a “money-making racket” for some industries.
“Do I believe that climate change exists? No,” Jenkyns said. Asked about the mass of evidence showing it was happening, she replied: “It depends what evidence you look at … I think it’s a way to actually make money.”
The letter from the Labour MPs pointed at other potential vulnerabilities for Reform, asking if its stance on green energy was shaped at all by donations from fossil fuel interests, also adding: “Did your party leader Nigel Farage’s ‘admiration’ of Vladimir Putin play a role in your calls for the UK to remain reliant on Russia-dominated fossil fuel markets?”