25 October 2021, 9:30am
Insulate Britain is back on the roads today after a ten day break. 61 ordinary people have blocked three locations across the City of London including Upper Thames Street, Bishopsgate and Limehouse Causeway. They are demanding that the government gets on with the job of insulating Britain’s homes starting with the homes of the poorest people in the country.
This is the fourteenth time that Insulate Britain has caused disruption on motorways and A roads as part of our campaign of nonviolent civil resistance over the past six weeks.
Liam Norton from Insulate Britain said:
“We know that the public is frustrated and annoyed at the disruption we have caused. They should know that one way or another this country will have to stop emitting carbon. We can do that now in an orderly, planned way, insulating homes and preventing thousands of deaths from fuel poverty or we can wait until millions have lost their homes and are fighting for water or starving to death.
“This treasonous government has betrayed the public. It is actively following a path that will lead to the death of millions – that’s genocide. If you know this and are not joining nonviolent civil resistance then you are complicit. We can’t be bystanders. Short term disruption or genocide – that’s your choice.”
Tracey Mallaghan from Insulate Britain said:
“I am gutted that we’ve had to return to the roads and irritate people. I am irritated too. I am a single mum and I don’t have time to read climate science and parliamentary reports, but I’ve read the Chatham House report and it’s terrifying. Everyone should read it and ask why their government isn’t taking the action necessary to defend our country from the climate crisis.
“I understand, more than most, that money is tight and many people are struggling and stressed beyond belief. It’s hard to see the bigger picture when you are anxious about putting food on the table but stop and think for a moment. The people on the road are not your enemy, they are not the ones that have betrayed you and fucked over this country. They are acting out of love to protect your children and people everywhere from misery, starvation and death.”
Last week the government published their Heat and Buildings Strategy, Net Zero Strategy and the Cost of Net Zero report.
The Heat and Buildings Strategy is not adequate to decarbonise our homes, it has revealed the cowardice of the government. At £3.9bn, the amount of funding provided for 2022- 2025 is a fraction of the £27bn planned spend on roads. The £450m allocated to grants for heat pumps will help just 90,000 households over the next three years – compared with the 900,000 a year needed every year by 2028 according to the Climate Change Committee.
The government’s £1.75bn funding for insulating social housing and the homes of those on low income will achieve only around 4% of what the Climate Change Committee recommends we should achieve by 2035 and breaks a key manifesto pledge made by the Conservative Party in 2019 to provide £6.3bn of energy efficiency funding for low income families. The UK government has signed a death sentence against its own people.[1]
Many industry figures have expressed the view that the strategy will not be sufficient to meet the UK’s carbon targets and that by focussing on heat pumps the government has missed the fundamental importance of insulation. Heat pumps operate most efficiently when a home has a high energy performance, but most UK buildings fall well below the standard required. Insulating first will reduce demand for energy and ensure that homeowners don’t end up paying more for their energy when they switch. [2]
ENDS
Press contact: 07737 457105
Email: insulatebritainpress@protonmail.com
High quality photos and video footage available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Kucq-NfhnZLGJWwLx1HX03cWR7M9Y2-m
Website: https://www.insulatebritain.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/insulatebritain
Twitter: https://twitter.com/insulatelove
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8N5mAeeCLbD-AFUqtPaF0g
Notes to Editors
[2]
About Insulate Britain
Insulate Britain is a new campaign group that is calling on the UK government to put in place policy and funding for a national home insulation programme starting with all social housing.
We demand the Prime Minister and the government to #getonwiththejob, face up to their responsibility and lead our country through the climate crisis.
We are ordinary British citizens with simple and achievable demands to #INSULATEBRITAIN
The UK government must immediately promise to fully fund and take responsibility for the insulation of all social housing in Britain.
We demand a national home insulation strategy that gives British people the justice they deserve: a future for our loved ones, lower energy bills and safer living conditions.
We are scared: our livelihoods are at risk and the futures of our children are uncertain
The Climate Crisis is a threat to all: we demand the government to act now.
Our Demands
1. That the UK government immediately promises to fully fund and take responsibility for the insulation of all social housing in Britain by 2025;
2. That the UK government immediately promises to produce within four months a legally binding national plan to fully fund and take responsibility for the full low-energy and low-carbon whole-house retrofit , with no externalised costs, of all homes in Britain by 2030 as part of a just transition to full decarbonisation of all parts of society and the economy.
Further information about Insulate Britain and our demands here: https://www.insulatebritain.com/
Technical Report on home energy efficiency here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jt5FI-kinEXoqZtPDrCvnAVQ2EFn8Aea/view
Insulate Britain ‘Blue Lights’ policy: our policy is, and has always been to move out of the way for emergency vehicles with ‘blue lights’ on.