REFORM UK have issued a threat to energy firms bidding for renewables contracts, in a fresh attempt to bring an end to net zero policies.
Deputy leader and MP Richard Tice told Octopus Energy’s CEO in a letter that by bidding in a Government auction for clean energy contracts they would be doing so “at your own risk”.
He claimed there was little public support for clean energy projects, and that if Reform wins power they would “strike down” all contracts awarded under Allocation Round 7 (AR7).
Reform UK have previously promised to reverse the ban on new North Sea oil and gas on “day one” if they win power in Westminster.
So why are Reform so anti-renewables? Well, there are a few reasons.
Tice is a climate change denier
Deputy leader Tice is not just Nigel Farage’s second in command, but also Reform’s most frequent donor – giving a whopping £613,000 to the party through his firm Tisun Investments Ltd.
Tice has been a vocal critic of net zero policies and targets, denied climate change is an issue and has opposed solar developments on farmland, calling for them to be banned.
During a visit to Scotland earlier this year, Tice said that Reform would scrap “net stupid zero policies”. Tice also said previously that “there is no climate crisis”.
He reiterated this point in the letter to Octopus Energy CEO Greg Jackson stating that if Reform wins the next General Election, or holds the balance of power, they will “immediately reassess all Net Zero-related commitments”.
Follow the (other) money
Reform’s biggest donor Christopher Harborne has so far given £13,715,000 to the party since 2019. Harborne is the CEO of Sheriff Global Group, which trades in private jets, and AML Global, a supplier of aviation fuel, with links to oil distributors. Harborne has previously insisted he is not a climate science denier.
In 2022, OpenDemocracy revealed that investment manager Jeremy Hosking has tens of millions of pounds invested in the fossil fuel industry. Hosking has given Reform just over £2.4m, his last donation was £125,000 in June 2024. His firm, Hosking Partners, was estimated by OpenDemocracy to have at least $134m invested in fossil fuels.
Hosking told DeSmog last year that he did not have millions invested in fossil fuels, the clients of his firm were the “beneficiaries of these investments”.
In 2023, First Corporate Consultants gave Reform £230,000. Terence Mordaunt, who was director until resigning in March 2025, previously chaired the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), a group that denies climate science.
Trump playbook
Farage and Tice have also launched a charm offensive on the oil and gas industry. Reform’s deputy leader previously told energy bosses that thy would reverse the ban on oil and gas licensing and provide billions of public investment in fossil fuel projects if they win the 2029 election.
They also told oil and gas companies they would provide tax breaks and slash regulations in a move described as “straight from the Trump playbook”.
In June, Farage spoke at an event organised by a pro-Trump think tank, the Heartland Institute, and at the GWPF home in Tufton Street, London.
During his visit to Scotland ahead of the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election in June, it is no surprise that Farage visited Aberdeen first, the hub of the north sea industry.
