Richard Tice spoke at a Reform UK rally on Saturday (Image: REFORM UK)
Richard Tice lashed out at a major HS2 move to save bats, which came to light late last year.
The MP for Boston and Skegness criticised HS2 for spending more than £100million on a “shed” to protect bats on a section of the high-speed railway line.
The decision was taken even though the company’s outgoing chairman admitted last November there was “no evidence that high-speed trains interfere with bats”.
As he took centre stage during Reform UK’s rally in County Durham on Saturday, Mr Tice made fun of the decision. He said: “Now, some of you may like bats. I am not a great fan of bats myself, but it doesn’t really matter.”
As the public started laughing, he launched a bidding war on how much the rally’s attendees would pay for a bat shed.
Reform UK’s deputy leader asked the crowd: “Anyone wants to spend £1million on a bat shed? £10million? How about they spent £100m of your money on a concrete bat shed?
“It’s so ludicrous you’d think it’s April 1. But it’s true! On HS2 they are spending £100m on what I call the bat**** bat shed. You could not make this stuff up. The lack of accountability.”
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Richard Tice criticised Rachel Reeves’ handling of the economy in a wide-ranging speech in Durham (Image: Getty)
News of the shed emerged late last year when the outgoing chairman of HS2, Sir Jon Thompson, told a rail industry conference the company was spending more than £100m building it.
He said the structure in Buckinghamshire was needed to appease Government adviser Natural England, despite there being “no evidence that high-speed trains interfere with bats”. All bats are legally protected in the UK.
In a wide-ranging speech, Mr Tice also railed against Net Zero, Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ handling of the economy, overseas aid, the deal to hand back the Chagos Islands and how taxpayers’ money is being spent.
Downing Street has pointed to the Government’s setting out major reforms to end blocking and delays to house-building and infrastructure projects from current environmental obligations in its bid to kickstart the UK’s sluggish economy.
No.10 has said a new “common-sense” approach will not allow newts or bats to be more important than the homes, roads and hospitals hardworking people need.
The cost of HS2 could run to some £66billion, DfT figures show (Image: Getty)
Environment Secretary Steve Reed has previously described the multi-million-pound spending on a bat shelter as “bat**** crazy”.
He said last month: “I mean, (to spend) that vast amount of money on a tunnel for bats when there were so many other public services crying out for funding – it’s bat**** crazy.
“And it happened because the previous Government didn’t have a grip on the public finances, didn’t have a grip on infrastructure projects and didn’t really have a grip on what was happening to nature either.”
Asked about the potential for tension between prioritising wildlife and the environment and pushing through planning projects, as the Government has promised to do to boost economic growth, Mr Reed said both could be achieved.
He said: “It’s not either or, it’s not growth or nature or the environment. We can do the two together.”
