(Alamy)
3 min read
Nigel Farage hopes the Iranian regime is “wiped out” in its conflict with Israel.
Speaking at an event on Wednesday, the Reform UK leader said he was not in favour of “de-escalation” in the region, and instead wanted to get “rid of [the] bloody awful regime” in Tehran.
“We’ve got some major global threats. China. God knows what will happen with Iran, hopefully they get wiped out very shortly,” the MP for Clacton said.
“I am not pro de-escalation,” he added.
“I think the lovely Persian people deserve better, I really do.”
Farage was speaking as the UK and other Western governments try to de-escalate the ongoing military conflict between Israel and Iran, which started last week.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer this afternoon chaired an emergency Cobra meeting amid concerns that the Donald Trump US administration could carry out strikes in Iran.
Speaking on a panel titled “Is Net Zero The New Brexit”, Farage said net zero could be the biggest issue that wins his party the next general election.
“As someone who cares about nature, which I do, greatly, that was before the CO2 obsession had taken hold.
“There’s an argument here that the centre-right of British politics can reclaim the argument about the environment, the argument about habitat, the argument about why nature matters without the CO2.
“This is one of the issues, maybe the primary issue, that will win us the next general election.”
Farage said that he would like to see the UK become more self-sufficient in producing its own energy, where fracking would be “absolutely vital” to the country in the long term.
“We have a political class not just obsessed with net zero, a political class obsessed with a whole series of treaties, some of which are now almost 80 years old, and a whole series of courts, most of which are illegitimate.
“We’ve just lost sense of what the national interest is… in a more uncertain world, security, an increased level of self-sufficiency, is something that ‘Joe public’ understands.”
Before the general July election, Reform UK figures campaigned for a referendum on whether net zero should remain law. Richard Tice, Reform MP for Boston and Skegness, and former party leader, committed the party to a referendum on the subject.
“I’ve talked about this, and the reason I talk about a referendum is because I just know that this gap between Westminster and in the country is as enormous as it is,” Farage said today.
“I would like to think that a government that was elected with a clear majority… could just do it.”
While Reform is strongly opposed to net zero, polling consistently finds public support for the government aim of eliminating UK carbon emissions by 2050.
A YouGov poll carried out in March found that 61 per cent of the public strongly supported or somewhat supported the government’s net zero policy.
