Nigel Farage has sharply criticised the Liberal Democrat-led Gloucester City Council over a costly and misguided local initiative aimed at reducing the carbon footprint linked to dairy consumption—a stark example of misplaced priorities under the current administration. Campaigning across Gloucestershire ahead of next week’s council elections, the opposition leader condemned the council’s wasteful spending and out-of-touch environmental policies.
Gloucester City Council, still under a fractious Liberal Democrat minority administration, had pushed a campaign called ‘Swaps in Seconds,’ urging residents to replace nutritious cow’s milk with trendy but less beneficial plant-based alternatives like almond or oat milk. This green virtue-signalling stunt has not only alienated local dairy farmers, whose livelihoods are being undermined, but has also inflicted needless bureaucratic costs on taxpayers.
After visiting the area, Mr Farage took to social media to expose the scandal: “Did you know Gloucester City Council spent £150k to cancel cows? They won’t be milking it when the sensible voice of this nation takes charge.” His accompanying video lambasted the council’s £150,000 annual expenditure on so-called diversity, equality, inclusion programmes and climate initiatives that tell the people of Gloucestershire to abandon traditional farming in favour of fashionable, yet environmentally dubious, plant milks.
Despite the council’s weak attempts to defend the scheme—arguing it aimed to encourage minor lifestyle tweaks to reduce carbon emissions—they had to quietly remove explicit references to milk alternatives amid growing backlash. It’s clear these gestures are more about political signalling than supporting hardworking local farmers or practical solutions.
Farage’s scathing remarks underscore his determination to steer the UK away from costly, ineffective climate policies and redirect funds towards real priorities. With his pledge to be the “UK’s Elon Musk,” he points to evidence from his party’s audits revealing millions wasted on trivial council projects nationwide—a waste the public can no longer afford.
As the local elections approach, this glaring example of fiscal recklessness and anti-farming sentiment epitomises the failings of the current Labour-aligned leadership. Voters in Gloucestershire have a clear choice: continue down the path of punitive green policies and extravagant council waste, or back a movement committed to economic sense, protecting British agriculture, and standing up against misguided climate gimmicks.
Source: Noah Wire Services