
The Green Party’s co-leader slammed Richard Tice over Reform UK’s manifesto this morning, and claimed the party’s numbers “did not stack up”.
The MPs were discussing how they would increase defence spending amid growing concerns about Europe’s security.
US president Donald Trump has called for all Nato member states to increase their defence spending from the current mandatory level 2% of GDP to 5%.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Tice said his party would scrap net zero and not pay interest on the reserves held on behalf of commercial banks, which he claimed would “save tens of billions of pounds”.
He added: “And we have to be utterly ruthless on wasteful government spending.”
Ramsay, who was sat next to Tice on the panel, quickly cut in: “Richard, at your general election manifesto at the time the IFS [Institute for Fiscal Studies] was clear that your numbers did not stack up.
“You’re exaggerating –”
“Since then my numbers have been proven right,” Tice cut in.
He also claimed: “The national grid has said you have spent £40bn a year on net zero.”
But Ramsay interrupted and said if there are “tax breaks on millionaires like yourself and Nigel Farage we will not have the investment we need to restore our national health service and grow the economy”.
“This is a dead cat negotiation,” Tice replied. “We’ve got to make some difficult choices.
’We don’t need net zero, it’s destroying jobs, it’s destroying industries, what we’ve got to do is try to make our economy grow –”
“Have you tried telling that to the people in LA, the people around the world who are suffering from extreme flooding?” Ramsay hit back.