The Labour party has called for an “immediate nationwide ban” to block the on-going “Just Stop Oil” demonstrations that have seen climate protestors blockading oil terminals, reports the Independent. The online newspaper adds: “Protests have caused ‘misery’ for motorists, the Labour Party said in a statement on Monday, citing statistics published by the Campaign for Fair Fuel that say around one in three petrol stations in southern England have been forced to close. Labour is demanding the government bring in an injunction that would ban protests not only at oil terminals but also to stop them across Britain’s roads network.” In response, Just Stop Oil has accused Labour of having “forgotten its history” of “struggle and resistance”. A spokesperson for the protest group is reported by the Independent as saying: “The Labour party is now betraying the youth of this country, of every country and are complicit in climate genocide.“ Politico claims that “punchy response” from Labour “landed well, winning praise from Labour sceptics and criticism from Corbynistas”. However, the outlet says it should be seen within the context of the looming local elections, which is why it says Labour “is having some joy with its pre-local election crime week announcements this week”. The Times says that the “climate activists plan more disruption this week”, adding that “the AA said that the shortages remained localised despite claims by the group Just Stop Oil to have caused widespread disruption by blockading oil terminals”.
In other UK news, the Press Association covers Labour’s announcement that “nuclear power must form part of the UK’s future energy mix to provide a long-term solution to rising bills”. The newswire continues: “Ahead of a visit [to Scotland today], both Sir Keir Starmer and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar have talked up the use of nuclear energy to ease the cost-of-living crisis in the long term”.
BusinessGreen covers a claim made by the UK government that its policies “have reduced the national flood risk by 5% following a six-year, multi-billion pound flood and coastal defence investment programme, which it said could prevent tens of billions of pounds of damage to property and infrastructure from worsening climate-driven floods in the coming years”. The outlet says: “During a £2.6bn programme of work carried out nationwide between 2015 to 2021, more than 850 projects aimed at better protecting against flooding and coastal erosion were completed, according to a report published today by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)…Emma Howard Boyd, chair of the Environment Agency, said the Agency had delivered the flood protection programme on time, on budget and on target.”
Elsewhere, an analysis piece by Madeleine Cuff in the i newspaper says that the “Russian invasion [of Ukraine] could push the government to approve a new coal mine in Cumbria – but it risks green backlash”. And the Times reports that “gas and electricity bills are likely to rise by a further £500 this autumn, ministers have been warned, as the war in Ukraine weighs on wholesale energy prices”.
Finally, Press Gazette covers new analysis published by Carbon Brief showing that “the number of UK newspaper editorials calling for more action to prevent climate change quadrupled in the three years to 2021”.
