Blocking the M25 motorway is a “legitimate” and “reasonable” means of demonstrating about climate issues, the Green Party’s MP has told Sky News.

Government ministers have urged police to take “swift” action to clear roads of protesters, after the London orbital motorway was blocked repeatedly in a week.

Numerous arrests were made on Friday as demonstrators from the Insulate Britain group targeted M25 junctions in Kent, Surrey and Essex.

Home Secretary Priti Patel this week condemned the “guerrilla tactics” of the protestors as “selfish” and said they “detract” from their calls for greater UK action on home insulation.

And Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has branded the group’s actions as “dangerous and counterproductive” and said they are putting drivers “at risk” while causing an increase in pollution levels.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

But Green MP Caroline Lucas said her party believes non-violent direct action is “legitimate when other forms of trying to raise issues with the government have failed”.

Speaking to Sky News’s Trevor Phillips On Sunday show, Ms Lucas highlighted how former UN general secretary Ban Ki-Moon has labelled climate issues an “emergency”.

COP26: Boris Johnson to travel to UN and White House to push for climate action ahead of crunch summit

COP26: Boris Johnson says climate talks in Glasgow ‘simply must succeed’ as major conference nears

California: World’s largest tree wrapped in flame-resistant blanket to save it from wildfires

“In emergency situations we need to take emergency action and I believe that’s what those protesters were doing,” she added.

“It is a really difficult think to try to capture on a mild September Sunday, the fact that we are facing an existential threat to life on earth.

“That is a very odd thing to say over your breakfast but that is what we are facing.

“When it comes to the demands of those protestors, they want the government to insulate Britain and I cannot think of a more reasonable demand.

“It’s a triple-win, it will get our fuel bills down, it would create thousands of jobs in every part of the country and it would get our climate emissions down too.

“Why has the government failed to do that?”

Subscribe to ClimateCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Spreaker

Ms Lucas described Insulate Britain’s demands as “reasonable” and said it was “reasonable to take emergency action”.

And, pressed on whether she believed blocking the M25 was a reasonable form of protest and whether she might join them, Ms Lucas replied: “I am saying that in extreme situations it is reasonable to take extreme actions and that is what has driven these protestors to do that.

“Personally, I prefer to take action where it is closer to the target of that action so that might be Downing Street, it might be the Treasury.

“But I fully understand why protestors have felt driven to do something more dramatic than that because government has been ignoring all of those kinds of actions for many, many years and we are facing an existential crisis and emergency and we need to take emergency action now.”

Related posts:

House of Lords Speaker to step down early to campaign on HIV/Aids and LGBT rights ‘Unhelpful and redundant’: Boris Johnson told to ‘scrap use of BAME label’ UK has no plans for investigation into UFOs after Pentagon report A night of high drama: Relief for Starmer as his prayers are answered in Batley and Spen Merkel tells PM number of fans at Wembley for Euro 2020 seems ‘a bit too much’ Batley and Spen – Labour hold…just Red boxes and nappies: The babies who had No 10 as their first home Chancellor writes letter to the PM calling for relaxation of travel rules, reports say Iran’s ambassador summoned to Foreign Office following oil tanker drone attack UK needs to engage with Taliban given ‘new reality in Afghanistan’, says Raab NHS waiting lists ‘could double to 12 million by 2025 due to pandemic backlog’, watchdog warns MPs give up second jobs worth £250k a year in wake of Westminster sleaze row