In an appearance on news programme BBC Breakfast, Tice claimed that net zero policies would make no difference to sea level rise driven by climate change, and implied that volcanoes and the sun were responsible for atmospheric warming.⁴³

Tice told the interviewer:

“Net zero will make zero difference to climate change, as confirmed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that says if you get to net zero, it’ll make no difference to sea level rise for between 200 and 1,000 years. Actually, what we need to do with climate change – of course, we all care about the environment of the planet – we need to adapt to it. The idea that you can stop the power of the sun or volcanoes is simply ludicrous. Anyone who thinks you can, frankly, you’re misinformed.”

November 25, 2023

Tice posted a video about carbon dioxide on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption: “CO2 isn’t a poison. It’s plant food! We need to challenge the climate change nonsense!”⁴⁴

Tice said in the video that without carbon dioxide, we would have “no plants, no food, [and] we all die”.

Tice added: “You’ve got to challenge the mainstream narrative on this. […] [Carbon dioxide] is not a problem. Stop worrying. Stop being scared.”

CO2 isn't a poison. It's plant food! We need to challenge the climate change nonsense!#ticetake #climatechange #co2 #plantfood pic.twitter.com/azEWnsU9VB
— Richard Tice MP 🇬🇧 (@TiceRichard) November 25, 2023

August 28, 2022

In a TalkTV interview with climate scientist Gerald Kutney, Tice argued: “There are some people who are obviously very highly qualified, but the rest of us should be allowed to be able to debate it shouldn’t we?” ⁴⁵

Following Kutney’s response, Tice added: “the point is, science is never settled is it? Science evolves because scientists quite properly challenge each other’s conclusions and of course, evidence changes over time”.

Tice continued:

“I’ve always said that climate change has existed since the year dot and it will continue to exist. I’m a fan of reducing emissions because I want cleaner, quieter cities, I live in them.”

“What I’m not convinced about is that we are facing a climate catastrophe […] no one has presented any science to me that shows that if we get to net zero, if we get there, that that’s gonna make any difference to climate change which is affected by things that are much much bigger than CO2”.

After Tice asked Kutney what car he drives in response to Kutney’s implication that Tice is a climate denier, Tice responded: “How dare you smear me and label me for being a denier when I’m doing more to reduce emissions than you are!”.

August 14, 2022

In a segment titled “The Great Climate Change Hoax”, Tice asked climate denier Brian Catt the question: “We all accept that we’re in a period of global warming, but a lot of people are panicking aren’t they. Are they right to panic?”⁴⁶

After Catt criticised what he called climate change “myths created by the UN” and the IPCC’s modelling, referring to it as “GIGO – garbage in, garbage out”, Tice said:

“This is really important folks because this is data. Essentially, the IPCC, they always talk about, we are 1 degree higher than the pre-industrialisation period than 150 years ago, but what you said is, that was the lowest point in the last 10,000 years, so in a sense, that’s why we shouldn’t be panicking and it’s been much warmer in the 2 or 3 previous periods.”

Key Quotes

September 4, 2024

During a house of commons debate, Tice accused Labour Secretary of State for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), Ed Miliband, of being “obsessed” with net zero following an announcement in that the government was going to build seven new wind farms, according to a report in the Independent.⁴⁷

Tice asked “will the Secretary of State be honest and tell the truth that renewable energy is more expensive, not cheaper?”

Tice then appeared on TalkTV with Jeremy Vine later today, where he called Miliband “the most dangerous man in Britain today to our economy.”⁴⁸

October 8, 2023

In a “Sunday Sermon” segment on his GB News show, Tice called for two new referendums: one on net zero policies in the UK, and another on the UK’s status as party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Tice added that he was “absolutely convinced” that if the two referendums were held, “the people would say, ‘scrap net zero, and leave the ECHR'”.⁴⁹

Tice said that he and Nigel Farage “might very well lead those referenda”, and added that prime minister Rishi Sunak’s rejection of the idea of referendum on net zero showed that he was “terrified” of “what the people really want”.

August 28, 2022

During a Talk TV segment titled “Tice’s Sunday Sermon”, Tice argued that the energy and cost of living crisis in the UK was “the result of gross, gross negligence by politicians and by civil servants over the last decade and more, nothing less”.⁵⁰

Criticising the Conservative Government for not lifting the ban on fracking, Tice said:

“We’ve allowed our domestic gas production in the last decade to drop by 43 percent even though we’re sitting on huge energy owned by us all […] Brilliant, thanks for that you clueless civil servants, you useless politicians.”

Tice also advocated for Reform UK’s “Emergency Energy Plan” as a plan “that can resolve this crisis”.

August 25, 2022

In a video live streamed on Reform UK’s Youtube channel titled “Global Energy War – Our plan to solve both the supply and the price crisis in the UK”, Tice criticised politicians and civil servants because “in their foolish negligence, they have chosen not to use” the UK’s “North Sea oil and gas, onshore shale gas, even coal for heaven’s sake” to resolve the energy crisis.⁵¹

When addressing the cause of the energy price crisis, Tice argued that:

“All of those who say to you that renewables are cheaper and we need more renewables, they are either deeply misinformed, or misleading you. It is simply not true.”

Later on, he added: “You can’t rely on the wind folks, renewables, because what happens when the wind doesn’t blow? Do we light up the candles? Electricity doesn’t work on the 23 million or so gas boilers in our homes across the country.”

Tice also criticised “the eco-zealots, the anti-shale gas lobby”, who he claimed were “funded indirectly from President Putin so that he could sell more of his own gas”. This claim has been debunked by Desmog.

Finally, when setting out Reform UK’s Emergency Energy Plan, he said: “we’ve got to accelerate gas and oil exploration in the North Sea […] no more subsidies for renewables […] We’ve got to scrap the windfall tax, because we’ve got to motivate the energy producers, the investors, back into investing in more supply.”

July 27, 2022

During the Conservative leadership election, Tice said that the proposed U-turn in government policy to lift the fracking ban would be “a very good start” for the UK’s energy security. He continued:⁵²

“We’ve got a huge opportunity here now to have a, literally, a trillion pounds worth of levelling up, by drilling down […] this is in our strategic national interest because we can reduce gas prices and there’s a massive win-win because we can also dramatically reduce the quantity of CO2 by using our own domestic gas as opposed to currently we’re importing almost 50% of the gas we use.”

April 18, 2022

In a Telegraph article titled “Net zero will be new Brexit for Tories, says Richard Tice”, Tice predicted that divisions in the Conservative Party over net zero “will become as big as Brexit or bigger”.⁵³

He also criticised environmentalists and the Conservative Party, saying: “Some Tories in the shires get bamboozled by the green lobby”.

Discussing the content of Reform UK’s manifesto, Tice said they will be campaigning “for shale gas, and the best way to level up is to use your own energy”.

March 26, 2022

In a GB News appearance after a Reform UK rally was cancelled, Tice explained the party’s approach to net zero policies, saying:⁵⁴

“Our view is very simple. We all care about the environment, we all want to reduce emissions and have cleaner air, but there must be a discussion about the best way to do that. […] We ought to do our bit. Our concern is that Westminster’s net zero plans is the wrong bit at the wrong price and we are seeing the price as we speak.”

He later added: “We are just at base camp, Everest base camp, of the cost of Net Zero”.

Explaining why he believed the fracking ban should be lifted, Tice said:

“Under the UK, we have this wonderful thing called shale gas, and it’s incredibly valuable. In fact it’s so valuable, it’s to the value of the country’s mortgage. All the national debt […] Imagine how easy life would be for the Chancellor when he’s giving the Spring statement if he doesn’t have to worry about the finances because all of this value has been created and extracted”.

He continued: “We should be using shale gas”, but claimed that fracking had been thwarted by “vested interests” such as the Russian state who, he argued, funded “many of the environmental lobby groups” because “Russia wanted to make Europe dependent on its gas”.

DeSmog has reported that the claim Russia had supported anti-fracking protesters stemmed from an unsubstantiated remark from 2014 by the then NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.⁵⁵ ⁵⁶ Rasmussen said that Russia had “actively engaged” with environmental groups opposing shale gas “to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas”. Rasmussen, a supporter of fracking, declined to give evidence at the time, saying: “That is my interpretation.”

Tice also said that 25 percent of electricity bills were environmental levies, which he described as “subsidies to rich, mainly overseas investors, wealthy landowners taking money from the poor and giving it to the already wealthy”.

December 14, 2018

In an article published by The Telegraph, Tice advocated Britain adopting World Trade Organisation rules:⁵⁷

“Far from the panto-dramatics language of no deals and cliff edges used by the anti-Brexit gang, a World Trade deal simply means we will continue to trade with the EU and like most other countries around the world, we will do so under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.”

March 29, 2017

In an article published by The Telegraph, Tice wrote:⁵⁸

“Let’s be clear, no deal is better than a bad deal, WTO rules are fine as a base case but of course the Government is right to try for a win-win trade deal with the EU. However suggestions that we should do any deal at whatever cost is unpatriotic and against Britain’s interests.”

November 11, 2015

According to Business Insider, Tice told Bloomberg:⁵⁹

“The biggest risk is staying in something that, frankly, is flatlining and not helping its citizens… I don’t think there’d be any disruption at all. This is not cataclysmic.”

Key Deeds

July 12, 2024

Richard Tice was made deputy chairman of Reform UK, having been replaced as chairman by Zia Yusuf one week after Tice was elected as the MP for Boston and Skegness.⁶⁰

July 4, 2024

Tice was elected Reform UK MP for Boston and Skegness with a majority of 15,520, overturning a Conservative Party majority of 27,402.⁶¹

January 28, 2024

A Guardian report revealed that Richard Tice’s property firm, Quidnet Reit Ltd, had enthusiastically embraced green technologies despite Tice’s history of vocal opposition to net zero targets and green technologies.⁶² In a meeting held in 2023, the company reportedly told shareholders that the green technologies it had been installing on its developments were “saving hundreds of tonnes of CO2 per annum.”

At that same meeting, Tice reportedly said “with more investment under way in super-fast electric vehicle points which will be ready this year and plans for more solar panels on our roofs.”

When approached for comment by The Guardian, Tice said:

“I love new technology and love my Tesla. As I have said, solar panels on roofs are a good way to multi-use a roof.”

“But that is totally different to impoverishing the least well off with forced changes to our way of life that are expensive, unaffordable and will make zero difference to global climate change; the latter has happened for millions of years, always will. The idea that stopping man-made CO2 emissions will stop the power of the sun, volcanoes and sea-level rise is childish nonsense.”

January 3, 2024

In a press conference, party leader Richard Tice spoke about Reform UK’s platform ahead of the 2024 general election, including net zero.⁶³

Tice called for a cut to fuel duty, “thousands” of EU regulations, and to “freeze non-essential immigration”.

He also said the government needs to “scrap” net zero targets, saying:

“We’ve got to scrap the totally job-destroying, trillion pound cost of net zero. Just that alone will make people better off; that alone will ease the cost of living crisis. I talk about the betrayal of Labour against the working class. Net zero every week, every month is destroying thousands of skilled manufacturing jobs – steel jobs, automotive jobs. They’ve [Labour] betrayed their own people. Only Reform UK now is the party of the working class, who will stop mass immigration, who will scrap net zero, who will help solve the cost of living crisis.”

June 21, 2023

In an appearance on GB News shared on X by Tice’s political party Reform UK, Tice said that the UK had the “highest electricity costs in the western world”, adding: “This is the price of Net Zero.”⁶⁴

“This is the price of Net Zero. Be under no illusion…”

📺 WATCH: @TiceRichard on @GBNews discussing today’s inflation figures. pic.twitter.com/euGbQrFkeS
— Reform UK (@reformparty_uk) June 21, 2023

June 20, 2023

Alongside a clip of TalkTV host Mike Graham talking about polling regarding net zero policies, Tice tweeted that Reform UK was the only political party that “stands against the madness of Net Zero which is making us poorer & colder”.⁶⁵

Only @reformparty_uk stands against the madness of Net Zero which is making us poorer & colder

It is therefore Net Stupid https://t.co/MSJ9ExCBGB
— Richard Tice MP 🇬🇧 (@TiceRichard) June 20, 2023

May 30, 2023

In response to a report from news outlet The Irish Independent that the Irish government may cull cows to meet its climate goals, Tice tweeted that “Net Zero cultists want to kill 200,000 cows to be in order to meet climate targets”, calling them “mad killers”.⁶⁶

A representative from the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine stated that the paper from which the figure was drawn was “part of a deliberative process” and “one of a number of modelling documents considered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and is not a final policy decision”.⁶⁷

May 28, 2023

In response to a Twitter user who shared Euronews article about decarbonising cities, Tice tweeted:⁶⁸

Oi Lady, what happens when you get to zero carbon?
Climate change does not stop…. It has been around for millions years…
Less CO2 = less plant growth = less, more expensive food
And zero evidence will make any difference to warming https://t.co/GN8uLuDaaD
— Richard Tice MP 🇬🇧 (@TiceRichard) May 28, 2023

May 24, 2023

Speaking on GB News, Tice said that television presenter Gary Lineker had “no idea what he’s talking about with regard to the climate debate” and was “deliberately scaring young people” about climate change.⁶⁹

Tice told fellow GB News host Dan Wootton: “[Lineker] has not a clue what he is talking about. The man is a clown.”

Tice added that “there is no climate crisis, there is no climate emergency, it’s absolutely absurd,” and stated: “They’re deliberately scaring young people in the same way Boris Johnson scared people with lockdowns.”

April 17, 2023

Tice called net zero policies “criminally negligent” as part of a speech relaunching Reform UK, and said that accountancy consulting firm KPMG had estimated net zero policies would cost British households £1,000 per year.⁷⁰

Net Zero is criminally negligent to this country.

If you agree, join us at @reformparty_uk 👉 https://t.co/vnVqjcRdsf pic.twitter.com/A7wgWxH2f9
— Richard Tice MP 🇬🇧 (@TiceRichard) April 17, 2023

Tice was referring to an article in the Telegraph — which he said was evidence that “Net Zero makes us poorer & colder — in which KPMG’s chief economist “said that energy bills were likely to remain around 93pc higher over the next decade than in the two years before Russia invaded Ukraine, which fuelled a surge in wholesale gas prices”.⁷¹ ⁷²

January 31, 2023

Tice opened a new Reform UK campaign office in Hartlepool, where he stood as the Brexit Party candidate in 2019, with the intention of standing to be the town’s MP in the next general election.⁷³

January 4, 2023

In a speech relaunching the party, Tice announced that Reform UK would field a candidate against every Conservative in the next general election.⁷⁴ Tice claimed that the party already had 600 candidates in place.

September 2, 2022

Tice tweeted an article by Paul Homewood, a retired accountant and climate blogger, which claimed “while it is true that summers now are warmer on average than a few decades ago, there is no evidence whatsoever that individual summers are getting hotter”.⁷⁵

In his caption, Tice wrote “Calm down […] Does not feel like climate emergency. No doubt some lovely folk will show us why we should all panic”.

March 6, 2022

Tice tweeted that “climate change happened for last million years & next million years. Multiple periods of warming then cooling”, adding that the UK is “right to reduce emissions for cleaner air but let’s do affordably sensibly by using [our] own shale treasure alongside new tech”.⁷⁶

February 10, 2022

Tice spoke on a panel hosted by CAR26, a climate science denial group that has questioned the need for net zero policies, and claimed politicians were trying to make money out of what he called the “green agenda”.⁷⁷

November 14, 2021

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart London, Tice said that China and Russia were “literally laughing” at the UK’s green policies, including the government’s goal to reach net zero emissions by 2050.⁷⁸

Tice also called for the resumption of fracking in the UK, and said the government had not allowed the practice because they had been “cowardly” in their response to “a couple of eco-zealots and eco-bullies”.

October 19, 2021

In an interview with the New Statesman, Tice stated that the UK is “more likely to have an energy lockdown than a Covid lockdown”, and warned that rising gas prices could lead to a “30-40 per cent chance that the government will be forcing big energy users to shut down one or two days a week”.⁷⁹

Tice also said the government should abandon its net zero targets, calling them “net stupid”.

April 12, 2019

The Brexit Party, which Tice chairs, was formerly launched.⁸⁰

July 27, 2017

Tice tweeted in support of President Donald Trump’s Director of Communications, Anthony Scaramucci, who was fired after just ten days in the job.⁸¹

August 2015

Tice co-founded Leave.EU with businessman Arron Banks. The group was originally named “The Know” and rebranded when an amended referendum question was proposed.⁸²