Rishi Sunak tells police chiefs he’ll give them ‘whatever they need’ to crack down on Just Stop Oil

Rishi Sunak tonight promised to give police chiefs ‘whatever they need’ to crack down on disruptive protests by groups such as Just Stop Oil.

The Prime Minister joined a meeting with police leaders in Downing Street this afternoon in the wake of the guerilla tactics used by the environmental campaigners.

Just Stop Oil have recently brought misery to drivers by forcing repeated shutdowns of parts of Britain’s busiest motorway, the M25, including by scaling the Queen Elizabeth II bridge at the Dartford crossing.

They have also blocked key roads in London using a variety of methods, such as gluing themselves to tarmac or slowly walking in front of traffic, to bring chaos to commuters and hinder the work of emergency services.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Chris Philp, the policing minister, also attended this afternoon’s roundtable talks with police chiefs.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Sunak declared it was ‘completely unacceptable’ that Britons were having their lives disrupted by a ‘selfish minority’.

‘My view is that those who break the law should feel the full force of it, and that’s what I am determined to deliver,’ he said.

The PM also revealed he had promised police whatever powers they need from the Government to end the disruption caused by groups such as Just Stop Oil.

The Public Order Bill, aimed at curtailing disruptive protests, is already passing through Parliament.

But Mr Sunak hinted at a further toughening of laws, if police deemed it necessary. 

‘We are currently giving the police new powers so that they can clamp down on these illegal protests,’ he added.

‘They will have my full support in acting decisively and rapidly to end the misery and the disruption that’s being caused to ordinary families up and down the country.

‘I’ve said to the police whatever they need from Government they will have in terms of new powers.’

It recently emerged that Mr Sunak has increasingly expressed his frustration in No10 meetings about the disruption continuing to be caused by protesters.

This is despite Just Stop Oil supporters having been arrested over 1,800 times since their campaign began on 1 April.

Prior to today’s meeting, Downing Street said the talks with police leaders were being held because ‘more must be done’ to stop disruptive demonstrations.

The PM’s official spokesman said: ‘We do want to discuss with police leaders if they require more powers or more guidance about how to further address some of these guerrilla tactics we’ve seen.

‘Obviously there has been some new tactics attempted in recent days and we’re very conscious that the public wants us to deal with this.

‘And so it’s right that we speak to those in charge of our police forces.’

Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, suggested that Just Stop Oil had become ‘much less assertive’ in their recent action due to their leaders being in custody.

He told the London Assembly today: ‘Frankly what I’ve seen is that Just Stop Oil have got much less assertive in their recent protests, frankly as a consequence of a large number of their leaders being remanded in custody as a result of our operations.

‘I’m absolutely determined that anything that goes beyond lawful reasonable protest by creating serious disruption to London, by creating damage to property, will be dealt with robustly.

‘That’s why we’ve used the more serious offences such as the statutory offence of public nuisance – we put the best part of 60 offenders before the courts at one stage for that offence.’

Sir Mark admitted that most of the trials for Just Stop Oil protesters are scheduled to take place in 2024 due to delays in the criminal justice system.