Greenpeace has defended its anti-oil protest at Rishi Sunak’s mansion as an attempt to draw attention ‘to the fact that what he’s doing on climate is actually a big disaster’.
Five people have been bailed by North Yorkshire Police after a demonstration on the roof of the prime minister’s grade II-listed home on Thursday.
The campaigners used ladders and climbing rope to scale the property and drape it in a black-oil fabric in protest against plans to grant more than 100 new licences for oil and gas extraction in the North Sea.
Politics latest: Crying shame’ not to use private sector in NHS
Mr Sunak is currently on holiday with his wife and children but Tory and Labour MPs criticised the targeting of his private home, while an ex-police chief branded it a “major security breach”.
Areeba Hamid, co-executive director of Greenpeace, said the protest had been planned “carefully and meticulously” and would not have gone ahead had the prime minister been at home.
She told Sky News it was a “proportionate response to a disastrous decision” by Mr Sunak to allow for further drilling while the world is facing a climate crisis.
Shapps hails ‘immense opportunities’ after energy summit amid net zero debate
There’s a lot of noise in the debate over North Sea oil and gas – but the numbers tell a different story | Ed Conway
Rishi Sunak stands by oil drilling expansion as critics warn of climate consequences
“It was an empty home. We wouldn’t have done it if he was there because our intention was to draw attention to the fact that what he’s doing on climate is actually a big disaster, rather than to talk about his family or where he lives.”
Defending the act of scaling the property, Ms Hamid said “protests are disruptive by nature”, and claimed there had been an outpouring of support for their actions as well as criticism.
“For the amount of comments that we have received online saying we don’t agree with you, an equal amount of people are saying ‘this was brilliant, you made your point, it was peaceful, it didn’t disrupt normal people’s everyday lives, you took it to the home of the decision maker’.”
Read more:
Is carbon capture a fossil fuel industry fig leaf or vital for net zero?
What are the Tories’ green policies – and what could be scrapped?
She added that Mr Sunak had personally backed the decision to drill for more oil “and climate change and its impacts are also felt personally”.
“I think the point that we want to make is Rishi Sunak needs to be held accountable for this decision and we need to hold politicians accountable when they make terrible decisions like these.”
North Yorkshire Police, which has come under fire following the incident, said their investigation “remains ongoing”.
Police were called to the scene at around 8am, and the protest concluded at around 1pm, with five arrests made in total.
A former deputy chief constable from the force, Peter Walker, told LBC radio it was a “major breach of security”, as he called for an “investigation into how this has been allowed to happen”.
Health minister Maria Caulfield refused to comment on the prime minister’s security arrangements when speaking to Sky News earlier on Friday, but said security for MPs is “always a concern”.
Several Tory MPs condemned Greenpeace on Thursday, with deputy PM Oliver Dowden calling it a “stupid stunt” and Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee, saying family homes “should never come under assault”.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper – whose party opposes oil drilling expansion – said targeting a politician’s home is “disgraceful and totally unacceptable”.
Number 10 stood by its policy in the wake of the controversy, saying drilling for more oil will boost energy security and reduce bills for consumers.
But critics, including climate-conscious Conservative MPs, said the pledge will hinder efforts to reach net zero – a key, legally binding environment target which requires cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
