A key question surrounding the insulate Britain campaign is whether antagonising the British public through blocking roads and therefore supplies is an effective way of achieving their aims.
The goal of the insulate Britain protests is for a national programme to ensure homes are insulated to be low energy by 2030.
They want the government to insulate Britain’s homes to “save thousands of lives and prevent economic and social collapse.” On their website they explain how each year in the UK, hundreds of thousands of families are forced to choose between heating or eating, cold children or hungry children, and many 1000s die because they are too cold. They say insulating the homes of Britain will save lives and provide warm homes while pound for pound making the most effective contribution to reducing carbon and providing meaningful jobs. Insulating Britain is the levelling up agenda writ large.
However polling by Redfield and Wilton for The Spectator, shows that when asked how much they had read or heard about the sit-in protests on the M25, opinion was split. Just over half – 55 per cent – replied they knew a ‘great deal’ or a ‘moderate amount’ while 25 per cent said ‘some’ and 19 per cent said ‘nothing at all.’
Nearly half – 49 per cent – of the 1,500 UK citizens surveyed said they opposed the protests, compared to 27 per cent in support and 20 per cent undecided. Even worse for the eco-warriors, a majority of the British public – 62 per cent – said they believe disruptive protests make the public less supportive of taking action on climate change compared to just 8 per cent who think it makes the public more supportive.
Anger in recent weeks has been focused on how ambulances were delayed by protesters because of Insulate Britain. On the 8th of October Insulate Britain sat down at the Enfield junction 25 of the M25 and at London’s Old Street.The protestors superglued themselves to the floor again and its claimed they blocked an ambulance from getting through in the protest.
These very public and bold protest by the insulate Britain protesters has been effective in gaining media coverage and therefore publicity but events such as blocking ambulance has caused outrage at their action.
In addition the M25 protests costs Surrey Police £110k, and a Freedom of Information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service found Surrey Police staff worked about 4,221 overtime hours handling protests.
It is clear that their actions are having an effect with disruption and financhial loss being a key result however this is yet to have created parliamentary action in favour of the group.
Ben Taylor, 27, was one of nine members of the climate activist group to appear at the royal courts of justice in London accused of breaching the injunction granted to National Highways by blocking a roundabout on London’s orbital motorway. Ben Taylor, was given a longer sentence of six months, “to deter [him] from committing further breaches,” after Judge Dame Victoria Sharp criticised his submissions to the court as “inflammatory” and a “call to arms”.
As a result of this the government has also taken out a number of court injunctions to try to prevent further action, and new powers targeting such protests have been announced. These include four injunctions granted to National Highways, banning demonstrations on the M25, around the Port of Dover and on major roads around London, and one to Transport for London (TfL).
TfL was granted a civil banning order aimed at preventing protesters from blocking traffic on some of London’s busiest roads. The UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps also said that every motorway and major A-road in the country is now covered by injunctions, tweeting that “Anyone who causes misery to motorists may face prison.”
Political figures have also spoken up about the recent event with Boris Johnson labelling Insulate Britain “irresponsible crusties” who have been “doing considerable damage to the economy”. Aswell as the Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer saying while there was a place for direct action, Insulate Britain was “not necessarily always doing it in the most constructive way”.
There is no doubt that the issue insulate Britain are fighting for is important and action does indeed need to be taken but with public favour not lying with them it is not clear whether their protest are effective in getting what they want.
