'Nigel Farage is out of touch - most people aren't fooled by Reform gaslighting'
Green entrepreneur Dale Vince OBE says a massive new poll showing the mood of the nation proves the right-wing are telling fairy tales about our country
You feel no one is listening to you, I get that. I feel it too.
I’ve shown this government four ways to slash our energy bills – we could halve them at no cost. Nothing has happened.
I also feel we’re being told fairy tales – by right-wing media and politicians – about the country we live in, about our fellow citizens, our neighbours and friends and what they care about. I feel disconnected from the picture they paint of our fabulous country.
That’s why I commissioned this Giga Poll, so named because it’s so much bigger than any poll before it. I wanted to know what Britain really thinks. And guess what, you also feel disconnected from this right-wing narrative. Farage, for all his populist skills, is out of touch with the population.
That for me is the biggest finding. Happiness, fairness and compassion live and breathe in our people. Farage, Britain’s very own Donald Trump Mini Me, can stick that in his pipe.
Yes we care about immigration, we want it under control. But we see the value of it too. The cost of living looms large in our findings, it magnifies my frustration on the energy bill issue.
For years, I’ve been banging on about breaking the link between the price of gas and the price of green energy.
Poverty looms large too. So many of us are struggling to pay the bills and face the disarmingly poetic choice between “heating and eating”. Luxuries for many are just a pipe dream.
We have choices here too. Another thing I’ve been banging on about is a wealth tax. And reform of our tax system, which is prejudiced towards people that have the most.
It would affect me, I would happily pay it. Three-quarters of you see the growing inequality in our country and agree with me – so strongly that the wealth tax is the third most popular policy Britain wants to see.
Trust is an issue too. So many of you don’t feel the government is listening but you trust your local leaders; you know they understand the issues you face and your communities. That’s a key finding and I’m going to be doing my best in the months to come to get across your views and attitudes at the highest level.
Something that you may know has occupied my adult life is fighting the climate crisis. The majority of you get that the climate crisis is real and is human-made and something we have to tackle. It’s driven by the mass burning of fossil fuels and we’re paying a big price now in lives and economic cost. Only one in 10 Brits still believe it’s not us humans “wot did it”.
And in further good news, just over half the country believes we must get to Net Zero.
I hear the other half, who think it is too costly, but that’s the recent gaslighting of Reform at work – it’s not the true picture. Net Zero will give us cheaper energy and energy independence and economic strength through freedom from the rollercoaster of global fossil fuel pricing. It’s not all about the climate.
My hope – and we all need hope – is that your views and attitudes, expressed through this massive poll, will help shape the future of our country. It needs to start with government, they have the levers of power – and they need to start by listening.
The Britain I know and love, has a strong beating heart.
Our Giga Poll says so.
- See the poll at www.gigapoll.co.uk