Insulate Britain admits road-blocking protests 'failed'

Insulate Britain has admitted its road-blocking protests “failed” but warned its next demonstrations will be “more ambitious”.

The environmental campaigners have infuriated motorists by repeatedly bringing traffic to a standstill on some of the country’s busiest roads.

Several of the activists have been jailed over their tactics – but in a strongly-worded statement on Monday, the group insisted “we’re just getting started”.

“It is with an extremely heavy heart that today we have to announce that as Insulate Britain we have failed,” the statement said.

“We failed to move our irresponsible government to take meaningful action to prevent thousands of us from dying in our cold homes during the energy price crisis.

“We have failed to make this heartless government put its people over profit and insulate our homes to do our part in lowering the UK’s emissions.

“We have failed to encourage our government to get up from their drinks parties, go to their desk and get on with the job.”

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Insulate Britain said it would continue its “campaign of civil resistance because we only have the next two to three years to sort it out and prevent us completely failing our children”.

“Now we must accept that we have lost another year, so our next campaign of civil resistance against the betrayal of this country must be even more ambitious,” it added.

“More of us must take a stand. More of you need to join us. We don’t get to be bystanders. We either act against evil or we participate in it.

“We haven’t gone away. We’re just getting started.”

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Insulate Britain has previously said it will resume its protests in the spring.

Five of the group’s activists were jailed at the High Court last week after breaching an injunction by protesting on the M25.

Eleven other demonstrators received suspended prison sentences after taking part in protests between different junctions of the motorway in October.

It was the third time the High Court had handed out sentences to protesters over breaches of the court order.

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The demonstrations have seen Insulate Britain activists glue themselves to roads to block traffic and have sparked furious reactions from drivers caught up in the disruption.

Protesters have had ink thrown on them and have been dragged off roads by angry members of the public.

But the group, which is calling for better insulation for UK homes, has claimed it will be “off the roads” if the government meets its two demands to help tackle the climate crisis.

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The first demand is that ministers must “immediately promise to fully fund and take responsibility for the insulation of all social housing in Britain by 2025”.

The second demand is that the government must promise to produce a “legally-binding national plan” within four months to fund the full insulation retrofit of all homes in Britain by 2030.

In response, a government spokeswoman previously told Sky News: “People’s day-to-day lives should not be disrupted, especially on busy motorways where lives are put at risk and resulting traffic delays will only add to vehicle emissions.”

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