A HIGH-PROFILE backer of the activist group Just Stop Oil has pulled his funding, claiming that continued disruption under a Tory government was “pointless”.
Green energy industrialist Dale Vince said that he would instead be diverting his funding to a new cause: encouraging young people and first time voters to take part in the next General Election.
In a statement the Ecotricity founder said: “Recent actions by this government make it clear that no amount of protesting will prevent them drilling in the North Sea.
“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.
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“This government is intent on drilling come what may and will welcome further protest as it feeds their new culture war.”
He added that the campaign to stop the UK Government from extracting more fossil fuels needed to take a different approach.
“I believe that the only way to stop drilling in the North Sea now – science, logic and protest having failed - is by choosing a new government at the coming election.
“Consequently, I’m no longer going to fund protest but will instead switch all of my time, effort and funding to a new cause. And so I’m announcing the launch of a new campaign: @JustVote24.
"Just Vote will be, firstly, about empowering the younger generation, especially first-time voters, to exercise their right to vote and help them overcome the obstacles placed in their way by new legislation designed to disenfranchise millions of Britons.
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"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 promised to ban the granting of new licences to explore oil and gas fields in the North Sea.
However, Keir Starmer also said he would honour the Tories’ decision to approve the Rosebank oil field – one of the largest untapped reserves in UK waters.
It comes after Rishi Sunak watered down efforts to tackle the climate crisis, including a five-year delay to the ban on new fossil fuel cars, in order to avoid a public “backlash”.
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