This summer, the UK suffered through record-breaking temperatures and drought. At the same time, we also suffered through Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice telling us everything is fine — even as people’s houses caught fire and trains derailed from buckled tracks. Now, Tice has found a new avenue for pushing climate misinformation. And it’s one which has already been debunked:
No. ONS discontinued an old methodology after review. UKHSA now publishes official cold-mortality statistics – alongside its heat-mortality statistics.
So just a methodology change. Once again Tice proving that he’s clueless https://t.co/d37foQWrQQ
— The Accidental Disruptor (@The_A_Disruptor) August 26, 2026
Tice overlooks excess deaths
Tice was responding to Kathryn Porter, who describes herself as an “independent energy consultant“. Here’s how DeSmog described her in 2023:
Research by DeSmog shows that Porter has a track record of publicly casting doubt on established science on human-caused climate change. She also has a record of being highly critical of renewable energy, which she characterises as “high-cost” and a risk to energy security on the website of her consultancy Watt-Logic.
The DeSmog article was referencing the fact that the BBC had Porter on as the sole ‘expert’ to discuss renewables. The piece also reported:
Porter states in her Twitter bio that she works with “businesses with projects across the electricity, gas and oil industries”, though these professional links to fossil fuel interests were not identified on the Today programme.
Here’s the post from Porter which Tice responded to:
I asked [the Office for National Statistics – [ONS] a few years ago why they stopped publishing these data and was told it was under review
Contrary to what Porter is suggesting, the ONS has finished reviewing excess winter deaths, with details of that review available here.
Porter also said:
Clearly the fact more people die from cold than heat is inconvenient for net zero but it’s deeply cynical for the government to stop publishing data simply because they dislike what they say
Sorry — why exactly is this “inconvenient”?
Britain is getting warmer, but it isn’t known for being particularly hot. As such, it’s hardly surprising that the cold would claim more lives than the heat. That might change in future, of course (almost certainly if climate deniers like Porter and Tice get their way).
Burning Britain
Tice thinks that he can point at some obscure tweet and convince the public that the climate isn’t changing. The problem is that this sort of stuff is far less convincing than horrific scenes like the following:
Horrific scenes coming out of Stourbridge as wildfires engulf homes in flames.
Climate breakdown is happening right here, right now in the UK and is impacting on all our lives.
At this point Andy Burnham just talking about disposable BBQs is akin to climate denialism…
— Cllr Martin Abrams (@Martin_Abrams) August 13, 2026
We’ve all seen wildfires burn down houses, but in the past such events happened abroad. It’s a lot harder to bury your head in the sand when it happens at home. And this is why people like Tice are a minority in the UK:
Just 21% of Britons believe the threat posed by climate change has been exaggerated, the lowest level recorded by our trackers in three years, following Britain’s record-breaking summer
Threats not exaggerated: 67% (+4 from 6-8 Jun)
Threats exaggerated: 21% (-4) pic.twitter.com/hVyTR4l3Fj— YouGov (@YouGov) August 18, 2026
Tice does have an excuse at least, and it’s that his party is up to the elbows in donation money from dirty fossil fuel companies:
Reform are an American psyop, funded by billionaire oil firms. They want Britain to remain a a wealth extraction zone.
Green sovereignly owned energy solves this, we produce our own energy that is owned by the people & ends our dependance on the fossil fuel cartel https://t.co/AlSAVTQhUX
— JimmyTheGiant (@jimthegiant) November 11, 2025
Let’s hope the only excess death we see this winter is that of Reform UK’s electability.
Featured image via the Canary
By Willem Moore
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