Fact Check: Reform UK leaflet claims net zero causes food shortages (July 2025)
🗣️ The Claim
In July 2025, a Reform UK campaign leaflet claimed that Britain’s net zero climate policies were driving food shortages and undermining food security.
đź“Ť The Context
- Reform UK has repeatedly framed net zero policies as harmful to the economy, jobs, and living standards.
- Linking net zero to food insecurity is part of a wider narrative aimed at portraying green policies as disruptive and costly.
- The leaflet was circulated during Reform UK’s campaign events in summer 2025.
🔎 The Facts
- DEFRA Food Security Report 2024
- The official UK Food Security Report (2024) makes no link between net zero policy and food shortages.
- Instead, it identifies climate change itself, global conflicts, and energy prices as the main risks to agricultural production and supply chains.
- Net Zero & Agriculture
- Policies such as sustainable farming incentives, renewable energy adoption, and emissions reduction are designed to improve long-term resilience of the food system.
- Studies show these policies are more likely to support food security than harm it.
- Expert Analysis
- Agricultural economists note that climate impacts (heatwaves, flooding, droughts) pose a far greater risk to food supply than net zero measures.
- Reform’s framing is misleading, conflating short-term costs of transition with long-term risks of inaction.
âś… Verdict: False
There is no evidence that net zero policies cause food shortages. Official government reports highlight climate change as the real threat to UK food security. Reform UK’s leaflet is a false and misleading narrative.