A Reform-led county council has rescinded its declaration of a climate emergency, with many members seeking to minimise the impacts of global warming.
Reform UK won 57 of the 81 seats on Kent County Council (KCC) in May’s local elections, and on Thursday their councillors argued they had the mandate to scrap net zero policies.
The motion was brought forward by Reform’s Chris Hespe who referred to “nonsense” climate change science and ideologies, and sought to minimise the human impact of global warming.
KCC Labour group leader councillor Alister Brady said the declaration, passed in 2019, was “not a PR stunt” but a “serious response to a serious risk”.
“Our leadership must be rooted in facts not fossil-funded fiction,” Cllr Brady said.
He later added: “Reform UK’s climate denial isn’t just wrong, it’s reckless, its donors profit from pollution.”
Donations to Reform from fossil fuel providers were repeatedly questioned during the council debate.
Reform councillor Matthew Fraser Moat, who heads their local government efficiency team, said there was “no discernible benefit to the world’s climate from KCC’s efforts over the last seven years”, adding his reasons for voting to rescind the declaration were “economic”.
Another Reform Councillor, David Wimble asked: “Why should Kent punish itself while global emissions rise anyway?”
Green councillor Stuart Jeffery responded: “Man-made climate change is a fact, facts are not for debate. If you don’t accept facts you are simply wrong.”
There is overwhelming consensus among climate scientists around the world that humans are causing global warming and climate change.
On Thursday morning a group of protesters gathered outside Kent County Council to criticise the Reform-run authority for “looking away” from climate change.
Science teacher Steven Thompson told PA: “My view as a teacher is that the younger generation have got a choice to make as to whether they take the dire implications and consequences of man-made and man-exploited climate change seriously.
The protesters clashed with three climate change deniers who arrived with banners referring to a “climate hoax” declaring “the climate has always changed”.
Earlier on Thursday, KCC leader Linden Kemkaran claimed Cllr Jeffery wearing a Palestinian scarf known as a keffiyeh, “could indicate his support of Hamas”.
Green group leader Mark Hood called for Cllr Kemkaran to retract her statement, and although she refused she said she would “happily reflect” on anything she said in the chamber.
Challenged on whether a keffiyeh showed support for the plight of Palestinians in Gaza rather than proscribed terror group Hamas, Cllr Kemkaran told PA news agency: “I think it’s very hard to separate the two”.
Outside the chamber, Cllr Jeffery said: “Those comments were disgusting, unwarranted. What I’ve got on is a keffiyeh? It’s a traditional Palestinian scarf which is worn by people in Maidstone, just like it’s worn by people in Palestine.
“I’m wearing it because I stand in solidarity with the Palestinians, particularly the Gazans, who are subject to a genocide.
“I think standing against genocide is the right thing to do. That’s why I’ve got it on. To conflate that or to accuse me of terrorism is beyond vile.”
In her leader’s speech, Cllr Kemkaran paid tribute to Charlie Kirk, the Donald Trump ally who was assassinated in Utah, and stressed the importance of “civility” in politics.
