UK

71 climate change protesters arrested after blocking M25 for second time this week


Insulate Britain blocked roundabouts and a carriageway leading to the nation’s busiest motorway

MORE than 70 climate protesters were arrested today after they again blocked parts of the M25 in a campaign for action on home insulation.

Insulate Britain, a newly formed group which is calling on the government to “get on with the job” of insulating Britain’s homes, blocked roundabouts and a carriageway leading to the nation’s busiest motorway.

About 90 demonstrators sat on the roads while stranded motorists beeped their horns.

The Metropolitan Police worked with forces from Surrey, Hertfordshire and Kent to make the arrests.

Surrey Police said that officers were also dealing with a crash involving multiple vehicles at Junction 9, and that an investigation into the circumstances of the collision remained ongoing.

Insulate Britain asserted that a national home insulation strategy is key to ensuring a future for younger generations at risk from the climate crisis, as well as ensuring lower energy bills and safer living conditions for people living in “29 million leaky homes” around Britain.

“We demand credible action now,” it said in a statement.

“Proper jobs for hundreds of thousands of people to start the first real step – to insulate all the homes of this country – which, pound for pound, gives us the biggest reduction in carbon emissions.

“It is a total no-brainer and yet this government refuses to get on with the job. This is criminal negligence.”

The group said it will continue to take action until the government “overcomes its complacency and cowardice and fulfils its first and most sacred duty: to protect the people of this country from harm.

“All we ask is that it makes a public statement that we can trust — that commits to the first step, to start the insulation of our homes.

“In the meantime, they can arrest us, they can put us in prison — we know who we are and what we have to do.”

A protest by the same group on Monday blocked five junctions of the M25, leading to tens of thousands of drivers being stuck in huge queues of traffic and dozens of arrests.

In March, the Tory government scrapped its flagship green homes grant – which offered households funding to install insulation – after just six months.

A National Audit Office report on the failed scheme has since found that it was rushed, caused frustration to homeowners and installers and failed to keep promises on carbon-emissions reduction and job creation.