Insulate Britain: Police tackling M25 protesters delayed by traffic jams caused by demo

Protesters have caused traffic chaos on the M25 for the fourth time in a week as police responding to tackle their demonstration got delayed in the backlog.

Activists from Insulate Britain blocked junction 18 of Britain's busiest motorway on Monday morning.

Drivers clashed with protesters, urging them to demonstrate in Downing Street instead if impacting people trying to get to work.

The protesters, who have been regularly flanked by the police in previous protests, were alone for the beginning of their action because officers were caught in the traffic jams.

A video emerged of a motorist remonstrating with activists, in which he accused the protesters of ruining people's lives.

He said: "Why the hell do you think that this is right thing to do? This is not helping your cause - you're making people hate you."

Asked why they weren't in London protesting, one Insulate Britain activist can be heard saying: "This is affecting the economy and that's the only thing the Government understands."

Another driver had to be dragged away by police officers after getting out of his van to approach the activists.

Earlier on Monday morning, a spokesman for Insulate Britain was criticised by LBC's Nick Ferrari.

The presenter had been approached by a listener whose mother had died having been sat in traffic trying to get to hospital as she suffered a stroke during one of last week's protests.

Pictures also emerged of police and protesters clashing on the M25 near Dartford.

In a statement on Twitter, the climate group said: "Insulate Britain blocks M25 for a 4th time.

"This morning, people blocked slip roads and the M25 carriageway itself in a number of locations. Once again, blue paint was poured onto the road, leading to further disruption.

"All actions will continue until the government makes a meaningful commitment to insulate all of Britain’s 29 million leaky homes by 2030, and all social housing by 2025."

M25 protesters 'adding nothing' to tackling climate change

Foreign Office minister James Cleverly told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "It is a completely inappropriate way of making the point they're trying to make, and I know the police have been taking action, the Home Secretary has made it very, very clear that they should be taking action, the police should take action when people are taking part in criminal behaviour, and that's what I think everybody will expect."

He said the protests were "ego-driven", and added: "I think the vast, vast majority of people want to see us tackling climate change, we are tackling climate change, the UK is one of the global leaders in this and this is very much what the Prime Minister will be taking with him as a message when he goes to the United Nations, or now that he's at the United Nations General Assembly.

"We've got the fastest reduction of emissions of any major developed economy, the UK is actually a real leader on this.

"So I have to say, my belief is that those disruptions and protests are more ego-driven, rather than issues-driven. And I would strongly urge the people involved in it not to put themselves and others at harm by this continued disruption."

He added: "These protesters are waking up at lunchtime and claiming credit for the sunrise. The simple fact is the UK is already pushing the world to do more and we are walking the walk as well as talking the talk and these protesters are adding nothing to that discussion."

Who are Insulate Britain?

The group was launched on Aug 20 by members of Extinction Rebellion, with one demand: that Boris Johnson's Government insulate every house in the UK.

In a video citing climate issues and people having to choose between heating their homes and feeding their families, it said if the demands were not met by Sept 1, further action would be taken.

This action was the disruption on the M25.

Insulate Britain had a tiny following on social media - with 441 likes on Facebook and only 329 followers on Twitter in the hour that followed arrests around the motorway on Monday. This had more than doubled by Wednesday.

Insulate Britain describes itself as "a new group demanding that the Government gets on with the job of insulating Britain's homes".

Its website warned that the disruption on Monday morning is "just the start", and "action will continue until the Government makes a meaningful commitment to insulate Britain's 29 million leaky homes".