Poll – Reform voters choose solar farms over fracking pads

Amongst all voters at this year’s local election, three in five (60%) said they would pick solar with just one in ten (10%) picking fracking.
 
Reform’s energy spokesperson has repeatedly called for fracking to be started in places like Lincolnshire and the Reform mayor for Lincolnshire has also held talks with fracking companies [2,3]. But Reform-led councils in Lancashire and North Yorkshire have opposed fracking projects in their areas [4]. The Makerfield constituency is an area which has been highlighted as having potential for fracking [5]. The Reform party won all the council wards for the constituency the recent local elections. 
 
Alasdair Johnstone from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unitsaid: “Reform’s pro-fracking, anti-solar stance appears not only at odds with broad public opinion, but also the opinion of their voters who would prefer a quiet solar farm over a noisy fracking pad in their area. That divergence is also playing out between the national level of the party and local councils some of which have said they don’t want fracking in their area.
 
“Public opposition aside, Reform would find it tough to emulate Trump’s pro-fracking push as British geology is very different to that in the US. Reform voters clearly back renewable energy which is helping to reduce the UK’s dependence on volatile gas markets and foreign imports.”
 
When voters were asked about their support for pylons, nearly three in five (58%) would support construction of pylons, compared to just under one in five (18%) who opposed. More Reform voters at these local elections (46%) said they would support pylons being built than oppose them (33%).
 
When specifically prompted on pylon’s perceived visual impact, a fifth (20%) of the public said they should not be installed, but over half (53%) still said they should be installed “because they are connecting new renewable energy projects to the grid which themselves create high-skilled jobs for British people”.
 
Despite the party’s anti-renewables stance, previous polling from More in Common [6] found that even among those who planned to vote for Reform UK, there is strong support for onshore wind (56%), offshore wind (66%) and solar farms (59%). 
 
Previous polling has also found that the cost of living was the biggest issue determining how people voted in the local elections, with energy bills ranking top of the list for individual costs pressures.