Eco activists will create climate of crisis for Labour

It’s not often there is a cross-party consensus over a controversial subject but it seems that the current crop of environmental activists has united opinion against them.

Both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer condemned the Just Stop Oil stunt at Stonehenge this week, echoing public outrage at the defacing of the ancient stones with orange paint.

There was fury, too, from another bunch who may be considered more fringe but spoke for the nation this week.

Druids and witches dismissed the antics of the latest two loons – an Oxford student and a Quaker pensioner – as attention-seeking.

“It may impress people who are firmly in their camp but it causes anxiety and annoyance to a lot of other people who could sympathise with their ideals,” said Adrian Rooke, of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. “We don’t condone random acts of vandalism”.

King Arthur Pendragon, meanwhile, senior Druid and pagan priest, said he totally disapproved of the Stonehenge protest, on the eve of the summer solstice, and claimed the group’s actions “alienate any sympathy” for their cause.

And self-proclaimed witch Sarah Kerr, president of the Pagan Federation, said some pagans wanted to see those involved jailed. 

“We would support their cause but actions like this have alienated almost the entire community. They are attacking the arts, and areas of spiritual importance – that is not going to harm the oil industry”.

So much common sense from folks who may be alternative but who are at one with nature and whose voice therefore should be heard.

If the eco zealots were listening, they might conclude that their pranks had backfired if even the people who worship the earth and the sun are ranged against them. 

But the movement, whether Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion of Fossil Free Books, appears to have no rationale behind its tactics and targets.

And, in the undermining of arts festivals where green-minded liberals congregate, the climate change mob is turning on its own constituency.

What is the thinking? Or is there, as suspected from these mostly privileged but politically naïve seditionists, not much of that going on?

Just as detached from reality are the three Oxbridge-educated judges on the Supreme Court who from their lofty perch have handed down a victory to the anti-oil campaigners and simultaneously threatened Britain’s energy security.

Their ruling this week that Surrey council’s approval for a small oil field near Gatwick was unlawful has potentially jeopardised all new fossil fuel projects in the UK and put hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk.

The decision, with a three to two majority, argued that future pollution from users of the fuel from the site – such as motorists – should have been taken into account when planning permission was granted.

It was an Extinction Rebellion diehard who brought the original case against Surrey council and it had been thrown out by various courts before the Supremes overruled them.

Who knows what motivated the three judges to side with climate radicals but they are out of step with almost every political approach, on the right and left.

In Scotland, even the SNP, until recently in a coalition with the Green Party and hell-bent on destroying the North Sea oil and gas sector, has had a rethink.

First Minister John Swinney, in his party’s manifesto, has not restated former leader Nicola Sturgeon’s position that there should be a “presumption” against new oil and gas developments in the North Sea.

More outspoken in favour of fossil fuels are those Nationalists representing the north-east, including Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, contesting Aberdeen South, and Glen Reynolds, the candidate in the marginal seat of West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, who have both backed oil and gas licensing and the exploitation of Shetland’s Rosebank field.

This brings them more into line with the Scottish Tories – and with Conservative policy nationally – who believe in a just transition and the preservation of jobs.

And though Labour plans to ban new offshore exploration licences, Starmer has said oil and gas will remain vital to the energy landscape for years to come.

If he finds himself in power, he will now have to contend with the Supreme Court judgement that will undoubtedly spark further legal challenges, as well as with mounting civil disruption from green fanatics.

Already, activists have pledged to ruin summer holidays in a “sustained period of action” at airports, following their larks with the orange powder at Stansted on Thursday.

As campaigners run amok, the “climate crisis” will take on new meaning and Labour’s net zero heroes may regret what they wished for.

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