Reform UK has said they will boycott the by-election triggered by the resignation of the ex-energy minister Chris Skidmore because it is a “grotesque abuse of taxpayers’ cash”.
The Right-wing party said that the former Conservative MP should be “held responsible” for the £250,000 cost of the election.
On Friday, Mr Skidmore announced he was resigning from the Tory whip and stepping down as an MP over Rishi Sunak’s plans to allow new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea.
He said that he could not support the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill in a Commons vote this week and that “the future will judge harshly those that do”.
His resignation will trigger a tough by-election for the Prime Minister in Mr Skidmore’s South Gloucestershire seat of Kingswood, where the Tory majority is 11,220.
However, his exit from Parliament has also sparked criticism because the seat is being abolished at the next general election, meaning whoever wins it will only hold it for a matter of months.
Richard Tice, the leader of Reform UK, said that his party would not be taking part in the by-election because of the cost which would fall upon the local authority.
In a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday, he said: “This is a scandal of selfishness, of hypocrisy, and of grotesque abuse of taxpayers’ cash.”
He went on: “He’s forcing the local authority to spend about £250,000 of hard-pressed council taxpayers’ cash to hold that by-election.”
Mr Tice said that while Mr Skidmore “claims to be concerned about the environment”, holding a by-election would “consume about a million pages of paper from trees”.
He added: “We’ve made the decision we will not take part in this abusive, scandalous by-election that is a total waste of taxpayers’ cash. So, Reform UK will not be standing in Mr Skidmore’s constituency that’s being abolished. We think it’s disgraceful and we suggest that others adopt the same attitude.”
In response to Mr Skidmore’s resignation statement, Karl McCartney, the Tory MP for Lincoln, tweeted: “A now ‘former colleague’, who was gifted various positions, ahead of many better, well-qualified, and collegiate colleagues, dumps on all from a great height.
“Once more, another non-Conservative handpicked as part of [David] Cameron’s A List. Same people at CCHQ keep making the same mistakes.”
Steve Baker, the Northern Ireland minister, meanwhile reposted a tweet that said: “Resign the whip, fine. But imposing another by-election this close to the general just feels gratuitous.”
Net Zero interests
Mr Skidmore signed the 2050 Net Zero target into law when he was energy minister in 2019, and as a backbencher carried out a review of net zero for Mr Sunak, which was published last year.
He had already announced he would not fight the general election, telling The Telegraph in November 2022 that he wanted to “focus on net zero beyond being in the House of Commons”.
According to Mr Skidmore’s parliamentary register of interests, he has been an adviser to the Emissions Capture Company since Jan 3, 2023, receiving £80,000 a year.
He has also worked for Global Insight Exchange since March 1 2023, again receiving £80,000 a year.
As a non-executive director of the Oxford International Education Group since May 16 2022, he has received £40,000 a year.
He is also the sole director of Bosworth Ltd, providing “research and advisory services”.
Mr Skidmore has been contacted for comment.
On Saturday morning Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, said that he was “very sad to lose a respected colleague like Chris Skidmore” but that he “profoundly” disagreed with his reasons for resigning.
Asked by the BBC whether Mr Skidmore was a “rat leaving a sinking ship”, Mr Hunt said: “No, I think he is just wrong on that issue… he’s wrong on North Sea oil and gas.”
