22nd November 2021, 1PM –
On Saturday, 20th November, approximately 400 people showed their disgust at the government’s cowardice and treason against the British people by joining a day of nonviolent civil resistance in defiance of the Transport for London injunction barring people from causing disruption on key roads in London.
Ben Taylor, one of the first group of nine Insulate Britain supporters imprisoned last week, said to the judge before his sentencing on Thursday 17th November: “If you send us away, a hundred more will step forward to take our place.”
Three days later his words were vindicated, as the Metropolitan Police have now confirmed that a total of 124 people were arrested on Saturday for blocking Lambeth Bridge and Vauxhall Junction.
The majority of those arrested have never participated in an Insulate Britain roadblock. They were moved to take action by the criminal inaction of this government, with speakers referring to the nine people imprisoned last week as ‘political prisoners’.
People from a variety of groups joined Saturday’s action to knowingly break the injunctions, which we understand was in an act of solidarity with the nine Insulate Britain members jailed on Wednesday, with the partially sighted Paralympian, James Brown who is currently serving a one year sentence for disruption caused at City Airport in October 2019 and with the other 25 people who are likely to be imprisoned in the coming months as a result of their actions with Insulate Britain.
It is clear that Saturday’s actions were inspired by Insulate Britain’s campaign of nonviolent civil resistance and that the flood gates are now open for those who refuse to be bystanders and complicit in genocide. As we have previously stated, the motorways are a site of nonviolent civil resistance and our campaign will continue until the government issues a meaningful statement to get on with the job of insulating Britain’s leaky homes.
If you want to protect your pensions, get out on the streets. If you want to ensure our NHS workers are protected, get on the roads. If you want to ensure this government upholds its duty to defend the people in this country from climate breakdown then get on the motorways.
The British people are beginning to question what kind of democracy they want to live in, what kind of future they want for their children, and whether this government can deliver on its most basic of duties: to keep its citizens safe. The cowardice of our leaders is showing, and their threats are backfiring.
In a letter to the British public following the sentencing, we called on them to recognise that they also ‘have a duty to act, as our government is betraying us’. On Saturday, they answered.
The next group of Insulate Britain members have now been served committal proceedings and will be taken to court in the coming weeks.
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
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.