Howard Cox

Credentials

Brockley County Grammar School (1966-1973).¹

Background

Howard Cox is co-founder and PR advisor of Kent-based pressure group Fair Fuel UK. Launched in 2011, the organisation campaigns to reduce charges on petrol and diesel vehicles, most notably fuel duty.

Cox ran unsuccessfully as the Reform UK candidate for the constituency of Dover and Deal, although he did win over 11,000 votes.²

On May 10, 2023, Cox announced that he would run as the Reform UK candidate in the 2023 London mayoral election.³ His platform included promises to scrap London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) scheme and remove Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) in the city.

He has also campaigned against the UK’s 2030 ban on new ICE vehicles and criticised electric vehicles.⁴ In 2021, DeSmog revealed Cox was the director of a company called Ultimum which markets a “fuel catalyst” it claims can slash emissions from petrol and diesel vehicles, and that he failed to declare the role in report for the APPG for Fair Fuel for UK Motorists and Hauliers, which promoted “fuel catalysts” as an alternative to the 2030 ban.

Fair Fuel is funded by industry groups Logistics UK and the Road Haulage Association, both listed as “founding backers” on its website. The group claims on its homepage to represent “the real independent and not for profit voice in Westminster for 37m UK drivers, who want clean air too, but want this accomplished without being demonised, blamed and continually treated as easy cash cows”.⁵

On Fair Fuel’s website, Cox and co-founder Quentin Willson claim to have “saved drivers over £110bn in planned tax hikes in duty and VAT through constructive and objective campaigning”.⁶ Willson cut ties with Fair Fuel UK in September 2021, accusing it of spreading “old urban myths” about electric vehicles and saying he was “unhappy with the direction the lobby group was going and their lack of environmental sensibilities”.

Cox appears regularly in the national media to campaign against increases in fuel duty, and is regularly quoted in publications including The Sun and the Daily Express.⁷ ⁸

Cox is a Fellow of the Institute for Independent Business, a network supporting owners of independent businesses, and runs a business development consultancy firm for UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).⁹ ¹⁰

Cox also serves on the editorial board of Heavy Torque, a magazine focusing on issues concerning the heavy and abnormal transport sector.¹¹

Stance on Climate Change

November 19, 2023

In a profile regarding Cox’s campaign to be the Mayor of London, Cox was quoted as saying: “Climate change is always happening”, and “I just don’t think there’s a crisis. It is arrogant to think that we, as human beings, can make any difference to this planet.”¹²

September 23, 2022

At the beginning of a tweet claiming that truckers and van drivers in the UK were “bombarding” FairFuel with messages saying “cutting the cost of filling up [petrol tanks] will keep them in business”, Cox wrote that “There is no climate crisis”, “There is a #CostOfLivingCrisis”, and that “#NetZero is bankrupting the UK”.¹³

August 28, 2022

In response to a TalkTV segment in which Reform UK party leader Richard Tice criticised the views of climate scientist Dr Gerald Kutney, Cox tweeted:¹⁴

“I am now even more convinced man is not responsible for global warming”.

February 28, 2020

Responding to BBC coverage of teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg’s visit to Bristol for a “Youth Strike 4 Climate” event, Cox tweeted:¹⁵

“@BBCNews worshipping at the altar of @GretaThunberg – no balance in their reporting just ‘she is an inspiration’. She is indeed impressive, she’s backed by £000000’s but please can we hear both sides of the #ClimateChange argument.”

Key Quotes

August 27, 2024

Cox was interviewed for an article in London Loves Business, in which he suggested he had reason to believe the Labour government was planning to raise fuel duty and argued that this would “damage the economy, jobs, inflation, business investment and freedom of movement.”¹⁶

He continued:

“Such a punitive hike will also stifle growth, which may be why his speech did not even mention Labour’s central campaigning pre-election mantra. The inevitable move to Big Brother pay-per-mile taxation, which Labour plans to work alongside the declining fuel duty income, will undoubtedly be announced in the budget too.”

July 5, 2024

Following the news that the Labour Party had won the Dover and Deal constituency in the July 2024 general election, Cox, who ran as the Reform UK candidate in the seat, posted on X:

“After 2hrs sleep. I woke up sobbing, not because I didn’t win in @doveranddeal, but because we now have to face 5yrs of Starmergeddon.”¹⁷

January 10, 2024

On X, the account for Cox’s London mayoral campaign posted a graphic reading “DON’T DELAY, JUST SCRAP ALL OF NET ZERO”, alongside the message: “The Conservative Party should go even further and scrap all of net zero. Only Reform UK will scrap all of net zero.”¹⁸

The Conservative Party should go even further and scrap all of net zero.

Only Reform UK will scrap all of net zero. pic.twitter.com/FCE3kHhDG5
— Howard Cox (@Cox4London) September 23, 2023

January 8, 2024

In an op-ed for the Express calling upon voters to back Reform UK, Cox referred to the government’s net zero targets as “a myopic drive to a costly net zero pipedream”.¹⁹

September 6, 2022

Cox addressed a tweet to UK Prime Minister Liz Truss asking her to drop the UK’s “needless” net zero target, writing: “PLEASE drop those unconsulted un-Tory-like needless cliff edge targets that will hit economy, electorate & biz hard”. He also called on Truss to “Drop #NetZero & 2030 diesel/petrol car ban”.²⁰

August 22, 2022

In response to a talk TV segment hosted by Julia Hartley-Brewer and featuring Net Zero Watch director Andrew Montford, titled “1,200 experts sign ‘there is no climate emergency’ declaration”, Cox tweeted:²¹

“No way will we ever see this on @BBCNews or @SkyNews – 1200 experts sign ‘There is no climate emergency’ declaration. Bloody well done Julia @JuliaHB1 with Andrew Montford on @TalkTV with @NetZeroWatch telling the truth not the usual emotive claptrap”.

He concluded the tweet by tagging climate denial organisation CAR26 and Net Zero Watch’s head of policy Harry Wilkinson.

June 11, 2022

In a tweet expressing disappointment that his LBC interview was cut short, Cox implied that the interview had ended when he said the “cost of living crisis is more important than the alleged climate change crisis”.²²

September 15, 2021

In an exchange on Twitter, Cox wrote: “I just said I believe there is climate change. I am not convinced its all down to man and especially down to drivers.”²³

July 28, 2021

In reply to a tweet by London Mayor Sadiq Khan about “extreme weather linked to climate change”, Cox tweeted: “Mr Mayor. Where is your evidence that climate change is causal to ‘extreme’ weather?”²⁴

July 17, 2021

Before appearing on GB News to speak on a panel about electric cars, Cox tweeted that calling electric cars “the future” is:²⁵

“A controversial virtual [sic] signalling mindset we are being forced into, that will cost UK £trillions. There’s better less costly ways to lower emissions w/o Govt’s ill-informed 2030 fossil fuel ban”.

September 18, 2020

Cox criticised reports that Conservative ministers were pushing for an earlier ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, from 2035 to 2030. He tweeted:²⁶

“Who are the 100 Tory MPs said to be urging a ban of petrol/diesel car sales be brought forward to 2030? These ill-informed MPs do not represent the majority of their constituents & they were not elected on this dishonest pledge. @fairfueluk will fight this betrayal.”

September 1, 2020

In a talkRADIO interview with Alistair Stewart, Cox characterised fuel taxes as:²⁷

“a regressive tax that impacts low income drivers and small businesses more than any other tax”, stating that increasing fuel duty would be “madness”.

August 7, 2020

Responding to reports that motorists had been overcharged fuel by up to £10 per tank during lockdown, Cox told the Mail Online:²⁸

“‘Lycra-clad Boris is happy to hand out a £2 billion present to cyclists, yet steers away from monitoring the chronic fleecing of hard-pressed demonised motorists every time they fill up”.

February 5, 2020

In response to a government proposal to ban the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars by 2035, Cox was quoted in The Sun saying:²⁹

“The political worship at the altar of Greta Thunberg has become an embarrassment, with the Government making uncosted decisions regarding the future of our road transport.”

Key Actions

May 10, 2023

Cox announced that he would run as the Reform candidate in the 2024 London mayoral election.³⁰ His platform included promises to scrap London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) scheme and remove Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) in the city, with the campaign slogan: “Scrap Ulez, Cut Crime and Ditch Khan”.

Cox told the Sun that drivers of “1.2 million non-ULEZ compliant vehicles in the commuter belt” are
“struggl[ing] to get a doctor’s appointment, have seen their communities infested with rising crime and violence and can’t afford to drive into their city”.

He added: “[Londoners] don’t need another elitist politician only interested in self-promotion through baseless virtue signalling.”

January 16, 2023

In response to a consultation about the extension of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) scheme in London, almost 5,000 responses were thrown out after it was discovered they were “so-called ‘copy and paste’ email responses opposed to the ULEZ extension – organised by the pro-motorist Fair Fuel campaign group”.

The BBC reported that when the copy-pasted responses from Fair Fuel UK supporters and a survey by YouGov were factored into the tally, the percentage of respondents opposed to the ULEZ extension reduced from 67 percent to 59 percent.³¹

Speaking to the Telegraph about the exclusion of Fair Fuel responses to the consultation, Howard Cox, head of Fair Fuel UK, claimed that “excluding his group’s votes ‘is not only contemptible, but also possibly unlawful’”, and that London mayor Sadiq Khan “must be subject to an immediate independent public enquiry as to his immoral behaviour in the way he has implemented the Ulez expansion.”³²

Cox continued: “He deceitfully and consciously excluded 5,000 supporters of FairFuelUK, and their legitimate responses to the Ulez consultation because they objected.”

Cox also appeared on TalkTV to speak to host Julia Hartley-Brewer about the consultation.³³ ³⁴

January 4, 2023

In an op-ed written in The Sun, Cox argued that the government should drop its 2030 deadline to ban the sale of new diesel- and petrol-powered cars, which he referred to as a requirement that “all new vehicles sold in the UK must be electric”.³⁵

Cox wrote that 2023 may be the “last year” to “scrap the crazy decision to bully Britain into a battery-fuelled vehicle cataclysm”, and claimed that “manufacturing a ‘pure’ battery-powered vehicle creates more CO2 than an equivalent fossil-fuelled car”.

March 1, 2022

DeSmog revealed that Cox is the director of Ultimum, which markets a “fuel catalyst” it claims can slash emissions from petrol and diesel vehicles. Cox failed to declare the role in a report he contributed to for the APPG for Fair Fuel for UK Motorists and Hauliers, which promoted “fuel catalysts” as an alternative to the government’s 2030 petrol and diesel ban.

Cox denied that there was a conflict of interest and told DeSmog that he was motivated to find “practical ways” for drivers to cut emissions from their petrol and diesel vehicles, and that he believed fossil-fuelled vehicles “have a future if made cleaner”.

The APPG is chaired by Craig Mackinlay MP, who is also the chair of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group.

Cox owns Ultimum along with Lembit Opik, former Liberal Democrat MP and the Director of Communications & Public Affairs for Motorcycle Action Group (MAG).

February 1, 2022

DeSmog reported that Cox had admitted to using a loaded question in a survey – later reported on by The Sun – that supposedly showed public opposition to the government’s plans to phase out petrol and diesel cars. The survey also contained leading questions on both government policy and climate science.

In an online discussion in January, hosted by climate science denial group CAR26, Cox said: “We’ve just done a survey, and we got 41,000 responses in 48 hours. And we said, ‘Are you getting accurate, reliable and objective information to believe the case for the government’s 2050 net zero aspirations that would definitely impact on your standard of living?’”

He added: “Slightly loaded, but I don’t care. 74 percent said ‘No’. Simple as that.”

The survey was produced in collaboration with the Alliance of British Drivers (ABD) and the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) and without involvement by any professional polling organisation.

September 1, 2020

Cox was quoted in The Sun responding to reports that Chancellor Rishi Sunak planned to increase fuel duty by 5p in the Autumn Budget – later cancelled due to Covid-19. He warned:³⁶ ³⁷

“Do not screw the commercial and social heartbeat of our economy to mollify the environmental lobby to pay off your post pandemic debt. The UK needs to recover big and fast, using incentives, not more punitive knee jerk draconian taxes.”

Cox added:³⁸

“The Chancellor knows full well, lower fuel duty, as published by his own department, massively benefits growth in GDP, jobs, inflation, business investment and consumer spending.”

July 29, 2020

Cox criticised a government proposal to ban non-electric vans from city centres in an effort to increase cycling and tackle obesity, arguing:³⁹

“The Prime Minister’s Lycra-clad amoebic [sic] advisors are out of touch with economic reality and majority opinion.”

He continued:

“Forcing no choice but to drive hard-pressed drivers out of their vehicles through such costly virtue signalling is contemptible and regressive.”

June 21, 2020

The Daily Express quoted a tweet by Cox, calling on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to:⁴⁰

“Get economy motoring with a cut in VAT and fuel duty. Put money back into all our pockets,” adding:

“The lockdown decline in fuel duty revenue is temporary, stimulating growth is permanent.”

March 8, 2020

Fair Fuel UK carried out a survey which found that 34 percent of motorists would stop supporting the Conservative Party if Boris Johnson raised fuel duties. Cox told The Sun:⁴¹

“The influence of the PM’s green tinged virtue signalling is rumoured to be clouding his economic judgement”.

He added:

“A 2p increase in levy will not save the planet but will damage our post-Brexit economy. Disguising any tax increase as a benefit to the environment will be both dishonest and indefensible.”

November 23, 2017

Cox was interviewed on Kent’s KMTV about electric cars, stating that:⁴²

“there’s a huge amount of batteries… the cost of making those batteries is actually environmentally damaging, and when the car goes away, what do you do with those batteries?”

May 7, 2017

Objecting to the Government’s plans to tackle air pollution, Cox told The Sun: ⁴³

“The Government’s feeble clean air consultation plan gives free rein for cash strapped local authorities to tax drivers. With no incentives to move to cleaner fuels, a diminutive scrappage scheme and snubbing other proven ways to lower emissions, drivers feel cheated by out of touch clueless politicians.”

January 9, 2015

In an interview with Tip TV, which describes itself as “a daily finance show, created for financial traders and investors,” Cox argued that:⁴⁴

“the 32 million motorists have been, for too long, a cash cow for the Treasury”.

He went on to argue:

“They’re not always the bad guys, the oil companies… the government takes the most, they sit back there and every time, they say – and they’re a bit disingenuous in this respect – the oil companies should pass on the price to the consumers quickly, and they’re sitting back taking 72 percent of everything in our petrol tanks and diesel tanks.”