Exclusive: MP Rupert Lowe extols benefits of clean energy as Reform deputy leader Richard Tice calls renewables ‘massive con’. The Reform MP Rupert Lowe installed solar panels on his farm to save money on energy bills, despite his party pledging to tax solar energy and claiming renewables are more expensive. The Nigel Farage-led party has been accused of hypocrisy as Lowe also runs a company that installs batteries for renewables projects, which has described solar energy as a good way to reduce electricity bills.
On Thursday, Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, described renewable energy as a “massive con” as the party announced plans to tax solar farms and ban battery storage systems, which it claims are dangerous. Tice promised to “scrap net stupid zero” if the party won the next general election. But Lowe, who owns Ravenswell Farm in Cheltenham, recently installed solar panels and battery storage systems on his land.
Lowe’s Cotswolds farm hosts the training ground for the leading horse racer Fergal O’Brien. His mechanical installations company Lowe & Oliver furnished the racing centre with renewable energy systems in order to save O’Brien money on electricity bills. In a post on the company’s website celebrating the successful installations, it wrote: ‘“Not surprisingly, the activities and operation of the premises use large amounts of electricity, and with tariffs rocketing … A solar-panel installation was seen as the most efficient option to bring down costs in the long term.”.
Lowe & Oliver added that “to maximise the self-consumption of the solar PV electricity generated on site, battery storage was also specified,” so they installed three batteries to store solar energy. The racing firm is expected to generate a third of its electricity from these panels, Lowe & Oliver said. Lowe told the Guardian he was “proud to be involved in a wide range of businesses, which gives me proper insight into how jobs are created and how wealth is generated”, adding: “If more MPs had such real life experience, the country wouldn’t be in such a sorry mess.
“My view? Clean energy is incredibly important, but it should be generated in a responsible way that does not bankrupt the country and deindustrialise our economy – particularly at a time when China, India and others are charging through coal. Fracking and nuclear are key, and the failure to properly explore those options is a humiliation for the British establishment. Every decision made must have the interests of the British people above all else.”.
Sign up to Headlines UK. Get the day’s headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning. after newsletter promotion. A Labour spokesperson said: “Reform’s energy plans have been exposed as a complete joke. They want to surrender Britain’s energy security, put up people’s energy bills and destroy jobs. While their own MPs apparently continue to profit from Britain’s fast-growing renewable energy sector, they want to deny the British people the opportunity to benefit.”.
The Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesperson, Tim Farron, said: “If we could power the National Grid from Reform hypocrisy then we’d be set for life. “It’s not just their hypocrisy which is staggering, but the sheer stupidity of their policies which would undermine Britain’s energy security and make us far more dependent on Putin’s Russia. “This breathtaking nonsense is a reminder that Reform are not serious, not patriotic, and are not on the side of British farmers.”.
