Just Stop Oil protester loses cool as Jacob Rees-Mogg questions ‘unreasonable’ methods - ‘I’ve had enough!’

Jacob Rees-Mogg (Left) and Dr Patrick Hart (right)

A Just Stop Oil protester lost their cool

GB News
Ben Chapman

By Ben Chapman


Published: 08/06/2023

- 21:35

Rishi Sunak says Keir Starmer is pandering to the campaign group

A Just Stop Oil protester lost his cool in the face of a grilling from GB News presenter Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Dr Patrick Hart, a spokesman for the group of "eco-zealots", joined Rees-Mogg to address Rishi Sunak’s suggestion that they are “writing Keir Starmer’s energy policy”.


In an extraordinary attack, the Prime Minister suggested Labour are willing to undertake an “energy surrender”, putting ideology ahead of jobs.

Green entrepreneur Dale Vince, an ardent support of Just Stop Oil, has donated £1.5 million to the Labour Party.

Sunak said: “It does appear that these kind of eco-zealots at Just Stop Oil are writing Keir Starmer’s energy policy and, not content with disrupting our summer and cherished sporting events, they are essentially leading us into an energy surrender.

“My view is we should focus on energy security, not weakness and dependency which seems to be the Labour Party’s policy.”

Just Stop Oil have sparked controversy with their disruptive forms of protest, undertaking acts such as blocking traffic on busy roads in London.

Jacob Rees-Mogg questioned Hart over their methods, which he suggests are “unreasonable and not democratic”, saying some instances have resulted in emergency services being disrupted.

Just Stop Oil protestorsJust Stop Oil bring traffic to a halt with slow marchesPA

Hart, appearing disgruntled at the suggestion, replied: “I’ve had enough of this, we’re not blocking ambulances, that’s absolute nonsense. I’m not going to put up with that anymore.

“Secondly, there are a lot of people standing up for green issues at the election, they need a public discourse to get people to realise this is a serious issue.

“We saw massive gains for the Greens so this message is getting through and it is thanks to disruptive protests.”

Rees-Mogg interjected: “I hope you’ll stick to standing in elections rather than disrupting people’s daily lives.”

A Labour government would stop issuing new licences for oil and gas production in the UK – a move which has prompted fury from both the industry and unions and was branded “completely bizarre” by Sunak.

Speaking to reporters during his trip to Washington, the Prime Minister said: “They are putting ideology ahead of jobs, ahead of investment, and ahead of our energy security – I think that is wrong and it’s not the right policy for the UK.

“It’s a completely bizarre policy which says ‘we won’t ban oil and gas, we’ll just ban British oil and gas’.

“The only people that benefit from Keir Starmer’s energy policy are dictators and autocrats like Vladimir Putin.”

A spokeswoman for the Labour leader’s office said: “Keir has been outspoken in his condemnation of Just Stop Oil who he believes have put lives and livelihoods at risk.

“The idea that they have influenced our policy is for the birds.

“The modern Labour Party doesn’t bow to fringe lobbies or extremists – every position we take and everything we do is firmly focused on providing security and opportunity for hard-working Brits.”

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