A prominent Labor Party donor has joined the Just Stop Oil protests outside the House of Commons.
Dale Vince, the founder of green energy company Ecotricity, was part of the slow walk down Whitehall to Trafalgar Square.
Vince’s association with the climate protest group has already given Sir Keir Starmer headaches.
According to the Sky News Westminster Accounts project, Ecotricity has given £860,000 to Labor since the 2019 election, as well as £20,000 to Sir Keir and £10,000 to Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner.
Mr Vince’s donations to the party over the past decade total around £1.5m
Speaking during the protests in Westminster, Mr Vince said: “I am here to support the incredibly brave people of Just Stop Oil. They are putting themselves and their freedom on the line.
“I support them in other ways, in the media and with donations, but I thought I would do more.”
The demonstrations were part of Just Stop Oil’s campaign against new fossil fuel licences.
On his trip to the US yesterday, the Prime Minister was highly critical of Labor taking money from Mr. vince
Rishi Sunak said: “It looks like these Just Stop Oil green fanatics are writing Keir Starmer’s energy policy and, not content with disrupting our beloved summer sporting events, they are essentially driving us into energy surrender.
“My view is that we need to focus on energy security, not on the weakness and dependency that seems to be the policy of the Labor Party.”
Sir Keir recently announced that Labor will not issue new licenses to drill for oil and gas in the North Sea if it enters government.
Labor has said the idea that Just Stop Oil or Mr Vince have influenced policy was “for the birds”.
Asked if he thought his presence at Thursday’s march would help Sir Keir, Mr Vince said: “I can’t imagine it will make much difference to Keir Starmer, he’s his own man and so am I.” .
He added: “I hope it doesn’t hurt the work, but I can’t stop talking.”
