By Ben Kerrigan-
Greenpeace protesters have been arrested after scaling Rishi Sunak’s Yorkshire home in protest over what they called new fossil fuel drilling “frenzy”.
Police were called after the group of activists draped the prime minister’s grade II listed manor house in Kirby Sigston, near Northallerton, with an oil-black fabric on Thursday morning.
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Four activists who scaled the property, unfurled the black fabric and brandished a banner demanding “no new oil” as they urged Mr Sunak to “be a climate leader, not a climate arsonist”.
The protesters, who acted in blissful ignorance of the limitations placed on the right to protest, will now likely face charges over their unlawful conduct.
Greenpeace climate campaigner Philip Evans said: “We desperately need our Prime Minister to be a climate leader, not a climate arsonist.
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“Just as wildfires and floods wreck homes and lives around the world, Sunak is committing to a massive expansion of oil and gas drilling.
“He seems quite happy to hold a blowtorch to the planet if he can score a few political points by sowing division around climate in this country. This is cynical beyond belief.
“Sunak is even willing to peddle the old myth about new oil and gas helping ordinary people struggling with energy bills when he knows full well it’s not true.
“More North Sea drilling will only benefit oil giants who stand to make even more billions from it, partly thanks to a giant loophole in Sunak’s own windfall tax.”
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, who is standing in for Mr Sunak during his holiday, told the protesters to “stop the stupid stunts”.
And Alicia Kearns, the senior Tory who chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said the action was “unacceptable”.
“Politicians live in the public eye and rightly receive intense scrutiny, but their family homes should not be under assault,” she said.
“Before long police will need to be stationed outside the home of every MP.”
Mr Sunak this week vowed to “max out” North Sea oil and gas by issuing hundreds of new development licences. The move was an apparent attempt to draw a dividing line with Labour, which has promised to stop issuing new licecnes in the North Sea if it wins power.
The PM said that even if the UK reaches net zero by 2050, “a quarter of our energy needs will come from oil and gas”.
He added that granting new oil and gas licences for the UK was “entirely consistent” with the UK commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
IPPR, an environmental thinktank said that by planning to “max out” the North Sea, the government had “abandoned any pretence of climate leadership”.
Oxfam’s climate change policy advisor Lyndsay Walsh said the decision was “wrongheaded” and part of “the government’s hypocritical and dangerously inconsistent climate policy”.
Greenpeace earlier slammed the announcement as “a cynical political ploy to sow division”.
Image:news.sky.com
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