Nigel Farage says ministers are 'defrauding' taxpayer out of billions to fund green energy - as he says water firms should be part-nationalised (at a cost of £50billion)
The Reform UK leader used a BBC interview to question why money was being used to underwrite wind and solar schemes 'for literally zero effect' on global CO2 emissions.
Mr Farage distanced himself from Reform mayor and ex-Tory MP Dame Andrea Jenkyns, who this week said she did not believe climate change existed.
But he said that even if humans were affecting the global weather system it did not justify the spending on green energy or axing high-pollution industries like steel making.
Last week Reform's Deputy leader Richard Tice wrote to firms giving them 'formal notice' that the party would axe deals aimed at offering sustainable generators protection against market volatility.
Speaking today on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Farage said: 'We have got ourselves stuck in this mindset: we believe man has an influence on changing the climate, I didn't deny that, I think that man does – it is impossible to think that seven or eight billion people can't have some effect.
'But whether that is a reason to transfer manufacturing to other parts of the world, whether that is a reason to have the most expensive energy prices for industry in the world and to make the poor poorer in society, for almost o benefit whatsoever, I doubt it.'
However he also faced accusations that Reform's plan to part-nationalise UK water firms would cost taxpayers as much as £50bn.
He insisted the proposal to put 50 per cent of firms into public ownership would cost 'a lot less' than the amount estimated by Defra and regulator Ofwat, saying they were 'part of the problem'.
But despite repeated questions he could not put a figure on how much Reform's plan would cost, saying it 'depends what deal you do with the private sector investors'.
He added: 'We don't know what negotiations we're going to have, but it doesn't need to be a big sum of money if you incentivise private capital to come in and do the job properly.'
It came after Environment Secretary Steve Reed again ruled out the possibility of nationalising the water industry, saying it would cost too much and take years during which pollution would get worse.
He told Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: '(Full) nationalisation would cost upwards of £100 billion that we'd have to take away from the National Health Service and schools to give to the owners of the companies that are polluted.'
He added: 'If we try to unpick the current model of ownership, it would take years, and during that period, pollution would get worse because the companies wouldn't invest knowing that they were going to be nationalised.
'So instead of me sitting here telling the public that we're going to halve sewage pollution over the next five years, I would instead be sitting here saying we're going to play around with ownership and pollution will get far worse.'
Mr Tice wrote to energy companies urging them not to invest in the latest round of green energy contracts, known as Allocation Round 7 (AR7).
Mr Tice said he had put the companies on 'formal notice' that their investments were 'politically and commercially unsafe' as a future Reform government would seek to 'strike down all contracts signed under AR7'.
But he later told the BBC that Reform would not renege on contracts, only oppose any 'variation'.
Reform has made opposition to net zero a major part of its platform since the last election.
Earlier in the year Mr Tice pledged to 'wage war' on the policy while Greater Lincolnshire mayor Dame Andrea told Times Radio on Thursday she did not believe climate change was real.
In a report published last week, the OBR estimated tackling climate change would cost the Government £30 billion a year, largely in lost income from taxes such as fuel duty.
But it also warned that failing to act presented a 'more significant fiscal cost' because of damage caused by climate change.
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