Met Police chief said he would 'love' to leave protestors on M25 gantries, but he isn't allowed

Britain's most senior police officer said he would 'love to' ignore the protestors who bring traffic to a halt by locking themselves to overhead posts.

However, giving evidence to the Commons Home Affairs Committee, Sir Mark Rowley said the Highways Agency had advised police that protestors who locked themselves on gantries over the M25 represented a safety hazard to motorists and could be a big distraction so they should be removed before the road was reopened.

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Asked why they could not just leave them there and allow traffic to continue, he told MPs at the Home Affairs Select Committee: “I am completely up for that.

“The Highways Agency feel there is a safety risk. They are concerned, I think, probably more about drivers being distracted than they are about the individuals.

“I would love to ignore all these characters but it is not always possible.”

He also blamed parliament for the 'very grey area' that meant police did not know if they could arrest protestors or force them to move without infringing on their human rights.

Sir Mark also spoke about the impact of the protests on policing, confirming that 12,000 officer shifts had been involved in the policing of Just Stop Oil protests between October and November.

“It is deeply concerning to me that that 12,000 officer shifts that weren’t policing London’s communities because they were dealing with protestors in the centre of London or on the M25 or wherever,” he said.