Nigel Farage’s anti net zero campaign rally at Bolton Wanderers stadium called off

Club execs said it does wish to be associated with the right-wing media figure’s anti-net zero organisation

Bolton Wanderers FC have cancelled a rally by Nigel Farage’s anti net zero campaign group ‘Vote Power Not Poverty’.

The rally, hosted by the right-wing commentator, was set to take place at the Bolton Whites Hotel at the University of Bolton Stadium later this month but the club has now said it won’t go ahead, reports The Bolton News.

Vote Power Not Poverty opposes net zero environmental policies, claiming they will cost the UK jobs and raise the cost of living.

A statement issued by the club said: “A ‘Vote Power Not Poverty’ Rally scheduled for later this month at the Bolton Whites Hotel will not be happening.

“The event has been cancelled by BWFC and is not something the club and business wish to be associated with.”

A statement on Power Not Poverty’s webiste said: “In a Moscow-style rebuke to free speech, this decision is an attempt to stifle a much-needed needed debate on the expensive consequences of the government’s Net Zero plans, when there are better solutions.

“This is particularly difficult to understand given that those consequences will be most felt in areas like Bolton.

“Though wealthy owners of football clubs may not care about ordinary people, our campaign to deliver cheaper, more secure energy to the people of the UK remains resolute and an alternate venue will be announced in the coming days.”

Vote Power Not Poverty’s website is littered with unsubstantiated claims that the UK’s legally-binding 2050 net zero target will have a range of negative effects, including that "it will make the older be colder and poorer due to higher energy bills", "will harm young people and future generations with fewer jobs, higher bills and less money", and that "net zero will damage businesses with higher energy costs, meaning lower growth and less jobs, leading to a weaker economy."

The club today cancelled the event at the Bolton Whites Hotel (Getty Images)

Neil Grant, a postgraduate at the Grantham Institute — Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London, said achieving net zero could actually boost economic activity compared to not taking action.

He added: “There’s no economic rationale to slow down on climate action.”

Hugh Grant recently told Farage to “go f*** yourself” in response to the new campaign.

The British actor replied to the former Brexit Party leader’s Twitter post on in which he announced: “I am launching a new campaign to kill of Boris Johnson’s ruinous green agenda.

“We demand a referendum on Net Zero,” Farage added.

He then posted a screenshot of an article featured in The Mail on Sunday, in which he shared details of the campaign named Britain Means Business, which he founded alongside his Leave Means Leave co-founder Richard Tice.