The UK Independence Party has called upon Just Stop Oil to just STOP.

A collision on the M25, at a protest site in Essex, involving two lorries and a police motorcyclist has resulted in the police officer being injured. The Chief Constable of Essex Police is absolutely right: this is devastating news, but it is only a matter of time before someone is killed.

For far too long a small clique of interlinked hysterical activists - under titles such as Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain, and Just Stop Oil – have been seriously disrupting the lives of members of the public who have been blocked from going about their business by what are small groups of high-viz extremists.

This has included blocking major roads and motorways bringing them to a halt, sometimes for hours. Video and eyewitness evidence indicates the police have often not dealt with these lawbreakers as rigorously as should be done, sometimes resulting in frustrated members of the public being put in the position of feeling they have to deal with these idiots directly. This will not end well.

It is a fundamental duty of a police officer to take the necessary steps to keep the peace, prevent crime or protect people from criminal injury or their property from criminal damage. This has not always been happening in some of these incidents. This needs to change.

The UK Independence Party believes the police should be more assertive in enforcing the law, quickly arresting those blocking the highway and other public places. This will not only allow the public to get on with their work, or pick up their kids from school, or get to hospital – but will also render these protests ineffective.

It is also essential that the courts apply maximum fines so that the punishment fits this serious crime (that is costing others millions of pounds), as well as maximum prison sentences to prevent repeat offending, and act as a deterrent to others.

The UK Independence Party also supports a 20-year minimum sentence for those who kill police officers and other emergency workers while on duty. We rely on our emergency workers to run towards trouble to protect the rest of us, and this should apply to situations like this, where Just Stop Oil members are intentionally taking action that is putting lives at risk, even (as in this case) they are in breach of a court order that they feel they are entitled to ignore.

 

Steve Unwin

UK Independence Party-Spokesman for Home Affairs, Voting Reform and Local Government