Labour hires former Extinction Rebellion lawyer as climate and energy adviser

Labour has hired Extinction Rebellion’s former top lawyer who represented the activists who shut down roads near Parliament.

Tobias Garnett led the environmental group in a landmark court case that saw the lifting of a ban on its protests in London and charges against thousands of protestors dropped.

But two months later, he was headhunted to become the Labour Party’s climate and energy political adviser and now works for Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary of state for climate change and net zero.

Conservative MPs said it proves there is a “revolving door between eco-extremists and Labour HQ”.

Mr Garnett coordinated Extinction Rebellion’s legal strategy team as a human rights lawyer in 2019, admitting in an article for The Guardian at the time that its protests were illegal but defended them as “a desperate attempt to jolt politicians out of their inertia”.

He led the group in a crucial High Court ruling that ruled the Metropolitan Police’s ban on the activists’ protests was unlawful after they shut down roads around Parliament, superglued themselves to a plane at London City Airport and sparked an outcry by jumping on Tube trains during rush hour.

It prompted Mr Garnett to tell television crews he was delighted at the victory, adding that the judgment “affirm[s] that when the people of this country assemble peacefully to demand action on the climate and ecological emergency the law is on our side”.

The ruling led to claims from Extinction Rebellion that around 1,000 police cases against its activists would be dropped.

Mr Garnett also criticised attempts to crack down on environmental protests as “wasting time and money” and boasted that “direct action like this may be justified to avert the greater damage that climate change promises”, warning of “eco-fascism forged in the crucible of scarce resources”.

But within a year, he had been poached by Labour in January 2020 to be a policy advisor on Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership campaign, before beginning his current rule as the party’s climate and energy guru.

He is now one of the most influential figures setting the party’s green agenda ahead of next year’s general election, including its recent pledge to stop handing out new oil and gas licences in the North Sea.

The revelation comes after it emerged last week that one of Labour’s biggest financial supporters, Dale Vince who has given more than £1.5 million to the party, also bankrolls the controversial eco group Just Stop Oil.

‘No doubt whose tune Labour marches to’

Lee Anderson, the deputy chair of the Conservative Party, told The Telegraph: “There should be no doubt whose tune Labour marches to. Their entire energy policy is being dictated by Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil loonies.

“As these eco-zealots line Starmer’s pockets with their donations and whisper in his ear, Labour are plotting to smash up British industry, kill thousands of jobs and leave us at the mercy of foreign powers.

“Labour’s policy is a surrender plan and these fanatics won’t rest until our energy security is completely dismantled.”

Andrea Jenkyns, another Tory MP who is on the board of directors of the campaign group Net Zero Watch, told The Telegraph: “This lays bare the frightening reality that the British public could expect under Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister, fuelled by a revolving door between eco-extremists and Labour HQ.

“They are rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of tanking the economy in the pursuit of net zero, leaving ordinary working people to pay the price while they pander to their zealous paymasters.”

Labour was contacted for comment.