Green multi-millionaire Dale Vince abandons support for ‘counterproductive’ and ‘pointless’ Just Stop Oil protests to concentrate on giving all his financial backing to helping Labour take power from the Tories
Eco-entrepreneur Dale Vince has abandoned his support for Just Stop Oil, so he can plough all his money and effort into getting Labour elected.
The Ecotricity founder and Forest Green Rovers owner said that future protests by the eco-zealots would be ‘pointless’ and ‘counterproductive’ to the aim of protecting the environment.
Mr Vince has made headlines this year after it was revealed he made donations worth £1.5million to Labour and Sir Keir Starmer while bankrolling the green group behind a string of annoying stunts.
Most recently they struck at a performance of Les Misérables, having also interrupted Wimbledon, an England cricket match and the Chelsea Flower show, as well as bringing London roads to a halt.
In a statement Mr Vince applauded ‘the conviction and the commitment of these activists and their bravery in the face of an increasingly hostile state’.
But he went on to add: ‘Recent actions by this government make it clear that no amount of protesting will prevent them drilling in the North Sea.
The Ecotricity founder and Forest Green Rovers owner said that future protests by the eco-zealots would be ‘pointless’ and ‘counterproductive’ to the aim of protecting the environment.
Mr Vince has made headlines this year after it was revealed he made donations worth £1.5million to Labour and Sir Keir Starmer while bankrolling the green group behind a string of annoying stunts.
Most recently they struck at a performance of Les Misérables, having also interrupted Wimbledon, an England cricket match and the Chelsea Flower show, as well as bringing London roads to a halt.
And while I understand the frustration that people feel, I believe that further protests and the disruption that comes with them are pointless. I would go further and say they would be counterproductive. This government is intent on drilling come what may and will welcome further protest as it feeds their new culture war.’
He said he will instead focus on a new campaign called Just Vote, which aims to encourage people to exercise their democratic right.
‘It’s a fact of our electoral system that only one of two parties can form the next government; we want to bring a focus to this reality and to the opportunity that we have – to elect a green government, one that will embrace the opportunities we face, rather than make an enemy of them – and use them to tackle the long list of issues we face as a country.’
Labour has come under pressure over its financial links via Mr Vince to JSO, whose protests earlier this year regularly brought parts of London and other cities to a halt and whose members were behind a string of stunts at high-profile sporting events.
In May he said he would double all money given to JSO in a 48-hour period after senior Conservatives urged Sir Keir to return the funds the green energy entrepreneur gave to the party.
And in June he took part in a JSO slow walking protest that brought Westminster to a halt by processing down Whitehall to Trafalgar Square.
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