‘It’s arrogant’: Sir Keir Starmer firmly tells Just Stop Oil supporter their protests are ‘wrong’
24 October 2022, 10:27
Keir Starmer slams eco-mobs branding them 'arrogant '
Sir Keir Starmer explained to a Just Stop Oil supporter that he is in favour of renewable energy, but disagrees with the tactics the group uses.
Sir Keir Starmer sternly told a supporter of the Just Stop Oil climate activists that their protests are “wrong”.
The Labour leader joined Nick Ferrari at Breakfast on LBC for a Call Keir segment today, where he answered questions from listeners.
After a month of protests across London and the UK which has seen protesters stopping traffic leading to delayed emergency service vehicles and the capital being brought to a standstill, one caller quizzed the Labour leader on the issue.
Fiona in Kendal mentioned Sir David King’s “horrible prediction that what we do over the next three or four years is going to determine the future of humanity”.
Read more: Furious driver ‘taking wife to hospital’ berates Just Stop Oil protesters in east London
She said: “I know the Labour Party has policies banning fracking and no more new oil and gas.”
“Could you please reassure me that you are taking Sir David King’s prediction seriously and if you were Prime Minister you would really act on that, and there would be genuinely no more oil and gas as Just Stop Oil are asking for?”, she asked.
The Leader of the Opposition firmly replied: “I think they’re wrong, I think their action is wrong.
“I particularly think about the images we’ve seen of ambulances coming down the road, not being able to get through because people have glued themselves to the road.”
“I think it’s arrogant of those glueing themselves to the road to think they’re the only people that have got the answer to this. They haven’t got the answer.”
In a personal moment, he added: “Fiona, my mum was very ill all of her life.
“She was in those ambulances when she was alive and there’ll be other families listening to this who are in the same situation.”
“I don’t know how they can look in the eye, the families who’ve got someone in the back of an ambulance. They certainly wouldn’t be able to look me in the eye if it was my mum, late mum now sadly, who was in that ambulance.”
Watch in full: Call Keir - the Labour leader answers your questions
Read more: Sixteen arrests after Just Stop Oil protesters glue themselves to tarmac at central London junction
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He also acknowledged Sir David’s prediction.
The Labour leader said: “I do think that the action we take in the next few years, probably the next 10 years or so, will be absolutely determinative.”
Sir Keir added that Labour has a “Green Prosperity Plan which is to absolutely go for renewables”, pointing out that they were nine times cheaper than gas”.
He explained that it “would bring our bills down” and said “there’s a huge next generation of jobs bound up in renewables”.
The question and answer sparked debate on Twitter.
Presumably thought there'd be no need for @JustStop_Oil to protest under a labour government, because there'd be no new oil fields or fossil fuel expansion, but a renewed push with renewables.
— Jez Wyke 🤎💛💙🤎🖤 (@jezwyke) October 24, 2022
Isn't that right @Keir_Starmer @LabourNorthWest @UKLabour ?
This is why the main parties are finished. Citizens are sick of this nonsensical net zero & green policy nonsense which is causing energy and food crises globally. Watch as th smaller parties collaborate & the framework of British politics changes for good. RIP labour & cons.
— The Cynical Brit 2 (@TheCynicalBrit2) October 24, 2022
