27 October 2021, 11:30am –
After blocking the A40 earlier today, two further groups of Insulate Britain supporters took to the roads at around 9:30. Seven people were intercepted by Kent Police and arrested before they could reach the M25, bringing the total number of arrested today to 55.
In earlier incidents, one member of the public sprayed blue ink on people from Insulate Britain, while another played bagpipes.
Insulate Britain would like to congratulate Kent Police for the swift and robust action they have taken today though it must be frustrating to have to devote resources to intelligence gathering on people from Insulate Britain, when we could have been in prison weeks ago. Insulate Britain urges the government to take inspiration from Kent Police today and get on with the job of insulating Britain’s leaky homes. Without immediate action, millions of families face a winter of misery and there will be thousands more deaths from fuel poverty. Arrest us or insulate Britain – get on with the job, one way or another.
Tony Hill, 71 from Kendal, who was one of the 7 people incepted by the Police, a former police officer and soldier now a Councillor, said:
I’m here through anger, fear and determination. Forgive us this disruption but please understand the reasons why we are doing it, for the disruption today will be nothing compared to what we get in the future of climate catastrophe.”
Last week the government published the Heat and Buildings Strategy which is their plan for decarbonising Britain’s homes. Yet it has been highlighted that the measures fail to ensure that Britain will meet future climate targets and there is a glaring funding gap for a national homes retrofit scheme [1]. Insulate Britain believes this strategy is one of the biggest acts of treason carried out upon the people of this country, the country we love. These policies will result in genocide.
Ruth London from Fuel Poverty Action said:
“The Heat and Buildings strategy focuses on funding heat pumps, but heat pumps do not work well in poorly insulated homes. On insulation, the strategy offers only rhetoric. There is no money to replace the Green Homes Grant that was so badly designed and mismanaged that it was cancelled early this year.
“At this crucial point for the climate, and with thousands dying from fuel poverty, we desperately need a scheme that’s designed to succeed, not another failure with mismatched goals and trajectory, half-baked promises, and so little funding that it cannot achieve even the government’s own pathetic manifesto commitments. Safe, non-toxic, non-flammable insulation is essential to retrofitting UK homes.”
Insulate Britain will return to the roads at the earliest opportunity to continue our campaign of nonviolent civil resistance until Boris Johnson gets on with the job of protecting the people of this country. Insulate Britain has a duty to continue our campaign and we will not be bystanders whilst the Government condemns this country to death.
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] https://www.fuelpovertyaction.org.uk/
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.