Dale Vince defends Just Stop Oil causing chaos at Wimbledon

‘The protest is vital’: Labour donor Dale Vince defends Just Stop Oil causing chaos at Wimbledon and the Ashes saying climate change is the ‘real disruption’

Eco entrepreneur Dale Vince has defended Just Stop Oil causing chaos at Wimbledon and the Ashes – saying climate change is the ‘real disruption’.

The businessman, who has donated money both to the protest group and Labour, said rain had a bigger impact on the tennis Grand Slam.

Appearing on the BBC’s Question Time, he claimed that the weather was getting worse and that would ‘come home to roost’ in sports events.

The defiant comments came as Keir Starmer frantically tried to distance himself from the activities of JSO.

A government minister yesterday suggested that members of the crowd would be justified in taking action to stop protests. 

Dale Vince, who has donated money both to Just Stop Oil and Labour, said rain had a bigger impact on Wimbledon than protests, and the weather was getting worse due to climate change

Pressed last night on whether he supported the disruption of sports events, Mr Vince – founder of green energy firm Ecotricity – said: ‘If you look at Wimbledon yesterday, rain stopped play more than the protesters did.

‘The protest is vital.’

He added: ‘If you look at what’s happening in the climate crisis, we are creating more rain, more events of rain and intense rain, so this is the climate coming home to roost in sporting events.’

Asked if he backed the protests, Mr Vince said: ‘There is a greater harm going on in the world. The climate crisis according the the UN has already killed four million people and every year it makes 20million homeless. That’s a real disruption.’

Sir Keir condemned disruptive protests as ‘arrogant’ yesterday, after his own speech in Kent was interrupted by climate activists.

The Labour leader said of JSO: ‘I just think they need to just stop.

‘Particularly this last week, they’ve been interrupting iconic sporting events, causing massive disruption.

‘There’s a huge arrogance involved, that they’re the only people that understand the argument, that their tactics are going to win.

‘And when I put what they’re doing against what we set out in our mission about clean energy, about net zero, you can see the difference between protest and power.

‘Glueing yourself, interrupting, interfering with other people’s lives in this arrogant way, compared with the actual change we can bring about, which is with a Labour government absolutely committed to clean power by 2030.’

Keir Starmer frantically tried to distance himself from the activities of JSO yesterday – and saw his own speech in Kent disrupted by climate activists (pictured) 

In a round of interviews, policing minister Chris Philp backed fans getting involved if their events are targeted.

Challenged if he would ‘do a Bairstow’ – a reference to the England cricket wicket keeper carrying a protester off – he told Times Radio: ‘I think it’s reasonable for people to try and protect the event they’re watching. Obviously, nobody should do anything dangerous or hurt anyone.’

But he said they should not go as far as Bairstow by manhandling protesters.

‘I think there are marshals and there are stewards whose job it is to do that and of course the police are there as well,’ he said.

The campaign targeting flagship events led to Home Secretary Suella Braverman calling sports chiefs in for a meeting to discuss the response.

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