UK
Millionaire Labour donor Dale Vince pressures Keir Starmer to repeal protest law that led to Just Stop Oil founder being jailed for 'disproportionate' five years over M25 plot - likening it to something from Putin's Russia

By DAVID WILCOCK, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 19 July 2024 |


Keir Starmer is facing pressure from a major Labour donor today to repeal anti-protest laws used to jail a co-founder of Just Stop Oil for five years.

Millionaire eco-entrepreneur Dale Vince said the sentences handed down to Roger Hallam and four other JSO activists for plotting to block the M25 motorway were 'disproportionate'.

The Ecotricity founder, who has given Labour around £1.5million in recent years, likened the law to something from Vladimir Putin's Russia and said the UK would criticise it if it was used there to silence dissent.

His criticism came as Labour figures also questioned the sentences, believed to be the longest jail terms handed down for non-violent protest.

Judge Christopher Hehir told the five defendants they had 'crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic' as he jailed them for a combined 21 years.

Lord Falconer, the former justice secretary, told the BBC this morning it made him 'very uncomfortable' that people were getting sentences of that length for simply causing 'enormous irritation' without violence.

However No10 today said that it was not for the PM to 'interfere or opine on decisions taken by judges'.

In a statement to MailOnline Mr Vince said that Sir Keir should move to repeal the legislation now he is in No10.

'Five years in prison for taking part in a zoom call to discuss disrupting the M25 is so disproportionate as to be hard to believe. It truly is worthy of Russia and if it happened there our government, Tory or Labour, would condemn it,' he said.

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Millionaire eco-entrepreneur Dale Vince said the sentence handed down to Roger Hallam and five other JSO activists for plotting to block the M25 motorway was 'disproportionate'.

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Mr Hallam, an environmental activist who was one of the founding members of the group, agreed to cause disruption to traffic by having protesters climb onto gantries over the motorway for four successive days in November 2022.

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However No10 today said that it was not for the PM (pictured with Ukrainian president Zelensky at No10 today) to 'interfere or opine on decisions taken by judges'.

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Mr Vince was one of a quartet of eco-activists who attended the sentencing at Southwark Crown Court yesterday. He was joined by BBC presenter Chris Packham and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the chef, presenter and owner of the River Cottage empire, and Green peer Baroness Jones.

'My focus is on the harshness of the sentences and the fact that Tory legislation led to it, which I hope Labour will repeal.

'Prison overcrowding is just another legacy of the last government that Labour need to fix. This case is a throwback to Tory rule in all respects. What's happened is an injustice and I hope Labour will intervene - for the sake of simple, natural justice.'

Mr Vince was one of a quartet of eco-activists who attended the sentencing at Southwark Crown Court yesterday. He was joined by BBC presenter Chris Packham and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the chef, presenter and owner of the River Cottage empire, and Green peer Baroness Jones.

Mr Hallam, an environmental activist who was one of the founding members of the group, agreed in a Zoom call to cause disruption to traffic by having protesters climb onto gantries over the motorway for four successive days in November 2022.

The 58-year-old was joined by Daniel Shaw, 38, Louise Lancaster, 58, Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, 35, and Cressida Gethin, 22, as they were all sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday.

Judge Hehir told him and his co-defendants: 'The plain fact is that each of you some time ago has crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic.

'You have appointed yourselves as the sole arbiters of what should be done about climate change, bound neither by the principles of democracy nor the rule of law. Your fanaticism has made you heedless of the rights of your fellow citizens.

'You have taken it upon yourselves to decide that your fellow citizens must suffer disruption and harm, and how much disruption and harm they must suffer, simply so that you may parade your views.'

Hallam was sentenced to five years' imprisonment while the remaining four defendants were each handed four years' imprisonment.

Last night the landmark sentences were hailed as 'really good deterrents'.

Former home secretary Dame Priti Patel said they 'should send a strong message to all those who want to commit criminal acts like these in future'.

Prosecutors alleged the protests, which saw 45 people climb up the gantries, led to an economic cost of at least £765,000, while the cost to the Metropolitan Police was more than £1.1 million.

Just Stop Oil warriors surround van detaining co-founder Roger Hallam

They also allegedly caused more than 50,000 hours of vehicle delay, affecting more than 700,000 vehicles, and left the M25 'compromised' for more than 120 hours.

Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC told the court that a police officer suffered a concussion and bruising after being knocked off his motorbike in traffic caused by one of the protests on November 9, 2022.

All five defendants joined a Zoom call on November 2 2022, in which discussions were held about the planned protests, based off 'what was said expressly and what could be inferred', and were aiming to recruit others for the protests on the call, Ms Ledward told the court.

A journalist from the Sun newspaper, who had joined the call pretending to be interested in the protest, managed to record some of it and passed the recordings on to the police.

Judge Hehir said the Zoom call showed 'how intricately planned the disruption was and the sophistication involved', and was 'compelling evidence' of the existence of a conspiracy.

There was 'extensive organisation and planning' for the protests and each defendant had a 'significant role' in the conspiracy, Ms Ledward said.

The defendants were convicted by a jury of conspiracy intentionally to cause a public nuisance, contrary to section 78 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and Section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977, on July 11.

The protestors, referred to as the Whole Truth Five by Just Stop Oil on social media, spoke to confirm their names in court and shouted 'We love you' from the dock immediately after the sentences were passed down.