A Labour MP is to appear on stage with Nigel Farage at the launch of an anti-net zero campaign for a referendum on policies to tackle climate change, a move that has sparked anger from party colleagues.
Graham Stringer, a prominent Brexiter who has appeared with Farage at pro-leave events and on his GB News show, was billed as appearing alongside the former Brexit party leader along with Reform UK leader Richard Tice and the broadcaster Julia Hartley-Brewer.
The Vote Power Not Poverty rally is scheduled to launch Farage’s campaign for a referendum on net zero, taking in place in Bolton next Saturday. It is understood that the Labour leader’s office is concerned by the appearance.
The release from Farage’s campaign said the rally would be going ahead in an as-yet-undisclosed location after the previous venue, owned by Bolton Wanderers Football Club, cancelled the booking. The club said that the event “will not be happening” and that it was “not something the club and business wishes to be associated with”.
Stringer, who rebelled on numerous occasions over Brexit legislation, has long expressed doubts about climate policies and is a trustee of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, the most prominent climate crisis-denying group in the UK.
The MP for Blackley and Broughton has said he is not a climate change denier, but told the Independent in 2017: “I am sceptical about everything – that is what scientists are. But there has been an enormous amount of shoddy work masquerading as science with regards to climate change.”
In recent weeks, Stringer has called for an end to the moratorium on fracking, called on Michael Gove to approve the Cumbria coalmine, and written in an op-ed for the Daily Mail: “Our current energy policy has weakened the UK … The two great threats to world peace, Russia and China – who have no qualms about increasing their use of fossil fuels – have been getting stronger.”
Stringer’s decision to share a platform with Farage is likely to come under new scrutiny amid a crackdown by Labour leader Keir Starmer on MPs taking part in events with the potential to embarrass the party.
Labour threatened to withdraw the whip from 11 backbenchers who had given their support to a statement by the Stop the War campaign that blamed both Nato and Vladimir Putin for the war in Ukraine. All withdrew their backing for the statement and the former shadow chancellor John McDonnell pulled out of a rally organised by the group.
A Labour source said: “The Labour party unequivocally condemns Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and is unwavering in our support for the Ukrainian people, and we’ve been clear about our views on Labour MPs sharing platforms with those who don’t take that view.”
Gaya Sriskanthan, co-chair of grassroots organisation Momentum, said: “Graham Stringer’s embrace of climate denial is a stain on the Labour party. By backing fracking and joining the concerted rightwing attacks on climate action, alongside odious figures like Farage, Stringer is out of step not just with Labour policy, but with the country as a whole.
“Keir Starmer should publicly demand Stringer withdraw from this rally, end his support for fracking and commit to stop denying climate science. Or is it one rule for leftwing MPs in Labour and another for rightwingers like Stringer?”
