Labour donor pledges to DOUBLE donations to Just Stop Oil in subsequent 48 hours
A Labour donor has vowed to double any donations to eco-zealots Just Stop Oil within the subsequent 48 hours.
Businessman Dale Vince’s pledge comes amid controversy over funds given to Sir Keir Starmer’s occasion.
In an e-mail to Just Stop Oil supporters this morning, the founding father of the inexperienced power agency Ecotricity stated he would double any donations “pound for pound”.
Mr Vince stated: “I was on the front page of Monday’s Daily Mail and Radio Four this morning for supporting Just Stop Oil, like that’s a crime or something.
“Along with thousands of others, I am proud to donate vital funds to the cause.
READ MORE: Starmer faces pressure to hand back £1.5m donation from backer of eco-zealots
“I’m inviting you to join me in supporting the brave people who are currently slow marching, causing disruption and risking their freedom to save us from the climate crisis.
“If you give a donation in the next 48 hours I will match it, pound for pound.”
He added that £10 can pay for a high-viz jacket for a protester, £50 will fund a secondhand smartphone “to film a slow march” and £100 “can buy the banners needed to send our message loud and clear”.
It comes as Labour is going through calls to return donations from the inexperienced power entrepreneur.
Mr Vince has given round £1.5 million to Sir Keir’s occasion over the previous decade, in line with filings to the Electoral Commission.
Conservative Party chairman Greg Hands wrote to his Labour reverse Anneliese Dodds over the weekend demanding Labour provides again the cash.
Mr Hands’ letter got here after Just Stop Oil activists disrupted the Gallagher Premiership rugby closing at Twickenham on Saturday, days after a protest on the Chelsea Flower Show.
He stated: “Given these attacks I am calling on you to return these donations.
“I’m involved in regards to the affect of this cash given the Labour Party’s choice to vote in opposition to harder measures to cease disruption through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act.
“I note the Labour Party has already caved into the demands made by the group and announced a halt to new oil, gas and coal projects.”
Shadow worldwide secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds at present defended accepting donations from Mr Vince, insisting it doesn’t have an effect on the occasion’s views on the marketing campaign group.
He instructed BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We have been extremely clear on our views on Just Stop Oil.
“Indeed, Keir Starmer has stated of them ‘simply go residence’ as a result of they don’t seem to be truly selling the reason for tackling local weather change.
“What they are doing is entirely counterproductive and the only debate it’s provoking is about our public order laws.”
Speaking to the identical programme later, Mr Vince stated of Just Stop Oil’s disruptive techniques: “Sometimes laws are unjust and when that happens, people have to stand up and do something about it. This climate crisis will be with us for hundreds of years.”
On his donations to Labour, the businessman stated: “I think it is a desperate stretch for the right-wing press and Tory MPs actually to be saying there’s a link here, that this money should be given back. The money is not dodgy.”
He stated there may be “no link” between the cash he donated to Labour and the stories claiming the occasion is contemplating blocking new oil and fuel exploration if it wins the subsequent election.
Mr Vince additionally stated he talked to Sir Keir on the cellphone final week for the second time and that the 2 didn’t focus on the local weather activist group.