Left-Wing Labour Party Comes Out Against Eco-Warrior Oil Blockades Amid Fuel Shortages, Cost of Living Crisis

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 07: Extinction Rebellion (XR) protesters glue themselves to barrel
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

Britain’s left-wing Labour Party has come out against blockades of oil depots by eco-warriors amid a growing cost of living crisis and widespread reports of fuel shortages across the country.

The energy crisis in the UK, spurred on by a combination of the war in Ukraine, sanctions on Russia, two years of coronavirus lockdowns, and the government’s green agenda failures have seen widespread reports of petrol stations throughout the country running dry.

To add insult to injury, far-left eco-warrior groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil have taken to glueing themselves in front of oil depots in order to further disrupt the supply chain.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, which has attempted to distance itself from the more radical elements of its leftist base, has actually condemned the actions of the climate change radicals and called on the government to crack down on them.

While Sir Keir infamously ‘took the knee‘ in his parliamentary office in support of the often violent Marxist Black Lives Matter movement, the Labour leader wrote of the oil depot blockades: “The government must stop standing idly by and immediately impose injunctions to put an end to this disruption.”

“On the Conservatives’ watch, drivers are being hammered by rising petrol prices and now millions of motorists can’t access fuel,” Starmer added, despite many in his own party supporting the same — if not more stringent — green policies enacted by the government which have forced the country to be reliant on foreign powers for energy.

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Eco-extremists in Britain have a history of blocking motorways, junctions, and city centre intersections. However, in recent weeks, emergent groups such as Just Stop Oil have taken to blocking oil depots and terminals in protest against the government finally admitting the need for new fossil fuel projects in the UK.

Starting on Sunday, two members of Just Stop Oil chained themselves to pipes of the Grays oil terminal in Essex — the third largest in the country — for nearly 40 hours.

Justifying their actions, one of the activists said: “We need a meaningful statement that we will have no new fossil fuel projects. It’s that simple.”

The other Just Stop Oil radical stressed how difficult it has been for them personally, saying: “It’s fucking rough up here. We’ve been up here over 30 hours, haven’t fucking slept, haven’t felt safe, had a fucking panic attack a while back, it’s really uncomfortable.”

After 40 hours of disruption, a “cutter” team was finally dispatched to break their chains and remove the activists.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said that such blockades will become illegal under the upcoming Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill.

Eustice criticised the radicals, saying that they are “trying to cause havoc with other people’s lives. And I think that’s wrong.”

“A right to protest is important, but not if it’s disrupting other people’s lives,” he added.

Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government — which has been at the forefront of the Build Back Better green agenda movement — announced in its energy security strategy that it would finally be opening up the North Sea for oil exploration and committed to the construction of eight nuclear power plants.

The strategy paper argued that it is important to use domestic sources of fossil fuels in the “transition” toward so-called green energy, adding that “producing gas in the UK has a lower carbon footprint than imported from abroad.”

The plan was criticised, however, for doubling down on offshore and onshore wind energy, while failing to lift the moratorium on fracking for natural gas. The government also admitted that the strategy will do little to ameliorate the energy crisis in the short term.

Brexit leader Nigel Farage said: “The government’s new energy proposals will take years to come into effect, push up gas consumption and lead to higher bills. We will still be an energy importer.

“What a waste with all this natural gas under our feet.”

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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