Scrap net zero drive to fund NHS, says Richard Tice

Reform UK would scrap the net zero emissions drive and use the money to improve the NHS, Richard Tice said this morning. 

Mr Tice, the Reform leader, said his party would aim to deliver zero waiting lists across the health service in two years. 

He told a press conference in Westminster: “Yes, it is going to take a bit of extra money but we are not going to give it to bungling NHS bureaucrats.”

He said Reform’s NHS plans would require an additional £17 billion in funding annually and his party had estimated that the cost of net zero would be about £30 billion a year. 

Mr Tice said: “We have a choice in this country, it seems to me. A pretty clear choice. Do we want zero waiting lists in two years and to keep them there, that is the Reform choice. Or do we want net zero CO2 emissions in 25 years? That is the Labour choice.”

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Politicians should be “sceptical” of unsolicited messages they receive, Downing Street has said following revelations of a honeytrap scandal in Westminster.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said he would not comment specifically on the recent revelations as they were the subject of an ongoing police investigation.

But he added: “It’s clearly important for anyone in public life to be sceptical of unsolicited communications.”