13 September 2021, 16:30
“We have to keep going”: Arrested Insulate Britain campaigners vow to cause further disruption until government acts.
Insulate Britain campaigners arrested during this morning’s rush hour protest on the M25 vowed to cause further disruption until the government gets on with the job of insulating Britain’s homes. [1]
78 arrests were made during the protests which lasted for approximately two hours and involved multiple junctions on the M25.
Spokesperson Steve Gower, from Gloucestershire, who took part in the action today, said
“I live in a private rental one bed flat built two hundred years ago. I can’t afford food this winter despite using food banks. It’s like living in a fridge in winter and an oven in summer. I know what it’s like to have to choose between food, rent or fuel.
“Insulate Britain demands will: reduce carbon emissions by insulation and retrofit of all council and social houses, create thousands of proper, quality jobs, save thousands of lives and be a stepping stone to protect our planet from economic and climate catastrophe.
“I am willing to do this protest with Insulate Britain regardless of the strong possibility of losing my liberty, at least then I’ll be warm this winter.”
Insulate Britain’s demands are: first, that the UK government immediately promises to fully fund and take responsibility for the insulation of all social housing in Britain by 2025 and second, 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.
Insulate Britain’s aims are in line with what many in the industry are calling for. A letter of support for Insulate Britain’s aims was published by Architect’s Declare and Architects Climate Action Network today. The letter begins, [2]
“The UK’s housing stock is not fit for the climate emergency we are in, to meet the government’s own legal obligation of net zero carbon emissions by 2050 we must undertake a massive and holistic retrofit of UK homes. This has been advised in numerous reports to the Government and the UK will not meet our climate obligations without updating our buildings. It is with this understanding of the scale and severity of the problem that Architects Declare and the Architects Climate Action Network support the aims of the Insulate Britain Campaign.”
Architect and low-energy building designer, Rob Prewitt Bizley, who has been retrofitting existing buildings to reduce their carbon emissions for the last 15 years, said
“The scale of the challenges and the cost of upgrading almost 30 million homes is sobering, and this is precisely why it is so important that we get on with job and at scale. Urgent does not come close!”
Tim Ibell FREng, who is Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Design University of Bath and President of the Institution of Structural Engineers said,
“One of the most important issues we must face up to in the climate emergency is not to rely on future hoped-for technologies to get us out of our mess. We need to use our present technologies, and use them now. Fundamentally, we need to use less stuff, and we need to use less energy, as we know that we will not have renewable energy in place by 2050 to cover our wish list. Charity starts at home with energy reduction – we must insulate our homes. Now.”
In pre-recorded video testimony many of the campaigners vowed to return and cause further disruption. Mother of two, Steffi, at teacher from London, said,
“I never dreamt of blocking motorways, repeatedly. It scares me. But Boris is not putting in place any plans to transform our carbon thirsty economy and society. Unless we seriously disrupt, we’ll be brushed away.
“We demand insulation of all houses starting from council homes. Our demands have the best return on investment and will create proper jobs.
“You may argue that you agree with our ends but not our means but it comes down to time – and it’s time to get on with the job”
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?lang=en
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8N5mAeeCLbD-AFUqtPaF0g
Notes to Editors
[1] 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/1HtOQmArzkDxhIYJrv9lBcl9lOUwfKoe7/view
[2] Letter of support for the aims of the Insulate Britain campaign:
https://www.insulatebritain.com/industry
https://www.architectsdeclare.com/news
Architect’s Declare: https://www.architectsdeclare.com/about
Architect’s Climate Action Network: https://www.architectscan.org/about