Eco-Activists Insulate Britain Should Be Locked up, Says Blue Collar Tory MP

Insulate Britain protest on the M25, September 21st, 2021 (Insulate Britain)
Insulate Britain
Victoria Friedman

Conservative MP Ben Bradley has said that eco-activists Insulate Britain “want locking up” for disrupting traffic on the M25, which was blamed for the avoidable serious injury of an elderly woman suffering from a stroke.

LBC radio heard over the weekend the harrowing story of a son who watched his 74-year-old mother deteriorate while they were stuck in traffic for six hours on their way to hospital after she had suffered a stroke. Insulate Britain protests for better home insulation by blocking major roads, including Britain’s busiest motorway, the M25.

Ben Bradley, the MP for Mansfield in the East Midlands of England who is the chairman of the Blue Collar Conservatism group, said that while people have a right to protest, they do not have the right to interfere with the everyday lives of citizens, particularly when putting people’s lives as risk such as the now-paralysed 74-year-old woman, adding that Extinction Rebellion protests in London have likewise blocked ambulances from getting to St Thomas’ Hospital.

“It’s not just a case of inconvenience, is it?” Mr Bradley said on LBC on Wednesday. “It’s not about inconvenience. It’s literally putting lives at risk, particularly running across the motorway in front of traffic.

“I think they want locking up, frankly, and I hope that somebody who was involved in that protest where that woman was paralysed gets sued because they should be,” Bradley continued, criticising eco-activists who “off their own middle-class pretentiousness” think they can impact on the lives of ordinary people.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced on Wednesday that a court injunction had been granted to the National Highways which could mean imprisonment for Insulate Britain protesters who have blocked sections of the M25 five times in the last week.

“Effective later today, activists will face contempt of court with possible imprisonment if they flout” the measures, Mr Shapps announced.

Police had arrested 38 people after another protest on the M25 on Tuesday between Junctions 9 and 10 near Cobham in Surrey, while officers arrested 41 people at protests in Kent and Hertfordshire on Monday.

One of the eco-activists said in a video released on Tuesday: “I am here today because the government needs to cut emissions. We need to insulate Britain. It is a win-win, a quick easy win to reduce emissions and to end fuel poverty.”

While claiming to block traffic out of compassion for those suffering fuel poverty, Insulate Britain spokesman Liam Norton declined to take responsibility for the serious injury of the pensioner last week, implying that she was simply collateral damage in the war on uninsulated homes.

“It’s terrible, Nick, isn’t it, that we’re in this position where we have to campaign this way?” Mr Norton had told LBC host Nick Ferrari.

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