Reform UK has claimed that mass immigration is the reason why millions of people in England and Wales are banned from using their hoses. The party's new policy paper argues that the situation would not be happening without mass immigration, which it says has placed 'huge strain on our infrastructure'.
Driest July on record
Both England and Wales recorded their driest July since Met Office records began 190 years ago, with some areas going more than 50 days without rain. The extreme conditions have led to drought being declared in two-thirds of England and across the whole of Wales.
In recent weeks, hosepipe bans have been introduced by Affinity Water, Anglian Water, Cambridge Water, Essex and Suffolk Water, Southern Water, South East Water, South West Water, Thames Water, Welsh Water, and Essex & Suffolk Water.
Reform's proposals
Announcing a plan to end annual hosepipe bans, Nigel Farage's party said the situation is 'the consequence of the Tories importing 12 million people over fourteen years, placing huge strain on our infrastructure'. It added: 'A prosperous country should not have to turn the taps off in the summer.'
The party proposes scrapping the government's target of reducing public water supply usage in England by a fifth by 2038, arguing the UK 'must embrace abundance'. Future water supply would be ensured by building 'as many reservoirs as it takes', after reducing the size threshold for a new reservoir to be treated as a nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP).
A similar move was made by the government last year, when it designated two of the UK's nine planned reservoir projects as nationally significant to fast-track their approval. Yesterday, the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs announced measures to make it easier for farmers to build reservoirs on their land.
Climate stance
Reform has pledged to scrap the UK's climate targets and ramp up the use of fossil fuels if it gets into government. Deputy leader Richard Tice is particularly fervent in his ambition to reverse the country's efforts to tackle climate change, which he has dubbed 'net stupid zero'.
He has urged people not to invest in renewable energy, as Reform would steer firmly away from it if the party ever gets into power. In an interview last year, he described the idea that human activity is responsible for rapidly increasing global temperatures as 'absolute garbage'. Tice told Sky News: 'There's no evidence that man-made CO2 is going to change climate change.'
That view is rejected by an overwhelming scientific consensus, based on over a century of evidence, which says humans are to blame for the warming of the Earth's surface – primarily through the burning of fossil fuels.
