We desperately need our prime minister to be a climate leader, not a climate arsonist.
Greenpeace activists have said they have scaled Rishi Sunak’s mansion in protest at his new drilling “frenzy”.
The campaigners said they had draped the British prime minister’s manor house in North Yorkshire with an oily-black fabric to “drive home the dangerous consequences”.
They took the action on Thursday, 3 August 2023 as Mr Sunak and his family are away on holiday in California.
Scaling
Mr Sunak, the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire, has said he plans to “max out” the UK’s oil and gas reserves by granting more than 100 new licences for extraction in the North Sea.
He has also hinted that the UK’s largest untapped oil field, Rosebank, to the west of Shetland, could be approved despite fierce opposition from environmental campaigners.
Climate-conscious Conservatives have joined campaigners to warn against the move, amid concerns it will hinder efforts to reach net-zero by 2050.
Windfall
After scaling the house, the four activists held up a banner demanding “no new oil”.
Greenpeace UK climate campaigner Philip Evans said: “We desperately need our prime minister to be a climate leader, not a climate arsonist.
“Just as wildfires and floods wreck homes and lives around the world, Sunak is committing to a massive expansion of oil and gas drilling.
“He seems quite happy to hold a blowtorch to the planet if he can score a few political points by sowing division around climate in this country. This is cynical beyond belief.
Homes
“More North Sea drilling will only benefit oil giants who stand to make even more billions from it, partly thanks to a giant loophole in Sunak’s own windfall tax.”
A No 10 source said “police are in attendance” before defending Mr Sunak’s climate policies. “We make no apology," they said.
Alicia Kearns, the senior Tory who chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said the action was “unacceptable”.
“Politicians live in the public eye and rightly receive intense scrutiny, but their family homes should not be under assault,” she said. “Before long police will need to be stationed outside the home of every MP.”
This Author
Sam Blewett is the PA deputy political editor.
