The Daily Mail says it has seen a secret recording of a Just Stop Oil meeting, where activists boasted that the group’s tactics have shaped the Labour Party’s environmental policy.
According to The Mail Online:
Just Stop Oil activists are boasting their tactics have shaped Labour Party policy, it emerged last night.
They were secretly taped at a meeting claiming a stunt outside Parliament had influenced the Opposition’s stance.
Larch Maxey said Labour ‘suddenly shifted’ to vetoing new North Sea oil and gas projects after JSO blocked London roads for weeks.
He suggested the shift had empowered the group to ‘escalate to high-level action’.
Energy Secretary Grant Shapps last night accused Labour leader Keir Starmer of surrendering to JSO’s ‘criminal tactics’.
At the meeting in Birmingham last month, Dr Maxey hailed the success of disruptive slow marches last autumn, saying: ‘Very reluctantly we blocked the roads around Parliament every day for 32 days straight.
‘And that suddenly cut through, we were headline news, Labour suddenly shifted and said ‘We hate Just Stop Oil, oh but by the way, we’re going to stop new oil, coal and gas’.
‘It’s how it goes isn’t it? We have to escalate it again. And we blocked the gantries on the M25, then – we had, throughout last year, we had 138 people in prison, we had six lots of high-level action, which helps people understand the truth.’
Labour confirmed in May it would block all new domestic oil and gas developments if it won the next election – mirroring the main demand of Just Stop Oil. It was part of ambitious plans to switch the UK to ‘100 per cent clean energy’ by 2030. However, Labour wants to continue to use existing oil and gas wells over the coming decades.
It has accepted £1.5million over several years from green entrepreneur Dale Vince, one of the biggest backers of Just Stop Oil.
His firm Ecotricity has given £10,000 to deputy leader Angela Rayner and £20,000 to Sir Keir, on top of more than £1.4million to the party over several years, Electoral Commission data shows.
Last month Sir Keir said JSO needed to ‘just stop’, criticising it for ‘interrupting iconic sporting events, causing massive disruption’ all through ‘huge arrogance’.
On Monday Rishi Sunak said the Government was gearing up to issue ‘hundreds’ of licences for domestic oil and gas extraction in defiance of both Labour and eco-protesters.
JSO described the new licences as a ‘crime against humanity’ and branded the Prime Minister a ‘war criminal’.
Cabinet minister Mr Shapps said last night: ‘Sir Keir Starmer has accepted millions of pounds in donations from one of the founders of Just Stop Oil and backed their demands to destroy 200,000 jobs, saddle families across the country with higher bills and throw away our energy security.
‘By surrendering to the criminal tactics of Just Stop Oil, he has emboldened them to try and make more people miss their job interviews and hospital appointments.
‘Only the Conservatives will stand up to these eco zealots by giving the police the powers to crack down on their disruption and ensuring long-term energy security with new North Sea oil and gas licences and carbon-capture technology.’
