'Just Stop Oil fanatics disturbing lives of millions' - MP

The selfish fanatics at Just Stop Oil continue to disturb the lives of the millions of hard-working law-abiding people, simply trying to get to work and - in some cases - trying to get to hospital. 

I have always been the strongest supporter of the police, but even my support wanes when I see police officers standing around, allowing these protestors to block the roads, and only intervening to arrest and restrain the public who are seeking to move them out of the way. 

Not only are the tactics of the eco-extremists indefensible, their cause is equally ridiculous.

The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that it will cost £1.4 trillion for the UK to reach zero emissions by 2050. 

The green lobby never explain where that money will come from - but I can tell you.

It will be coming from you, either through even higher taxes or higher energy prices. Taxes are already at their highest rate in several decades and energy bills are at astronomical levels, partly because of the idiotic decision to lock down the country during covid, but also partly because of green levies costing us all hundreds of pounds a year to support a domestic shift to net zero which is utterly futile.

The United Kingdom produces less than one per cent of total global carbon emissions.

China, on the other hand, is responsible for 29 per cent of global emissions.  Indeed, China is responsible for more carbon emissions than the entire UK, EU and US combined.

The inconvenient fact is that even if we were to miraculously find £1.4trillion and waste it on getting our carbon emissions to zero from less than one per cent of the world’s amount, it would not make a blind bit of difference to global temperatures.

Some people say that if we cut our emissions, other countries will follow suit. 

I am afraid this is utter rubbish. We have reduced our emissions by more than half since the turn of the twenty-first century, the fastest of any country in the G20, and yet China is planning to build another 100 new airports along with 43 new coal-fired power plants before 2030 - three times as much new coal capacity than all the world’s countries combined. 

In the 1980s CND used to say if we rid ourselves of our nuclear weapons, other countries would follow. That was nonsense then, and it is nonsense now with regards to carbon emissions.

All we have been doing is exporting a huge amount of our energy-intensive manufacturing to other countries around the world at the altar of net zero - costing us highly paid jobs and tax revenue. 

It has made no difference to global temperatures as those industries have just sprung up elsewhere, and the countries they have moved to are not following us, they are laughing at us.

It is all very well for comfortably off, middle class eco-warriors with too much time on their hands demanding greener and greener energy irrespective of the cost, but most of my constituents cannot afford such luxury.

They would much prefer to see us pursue cheaper energy to reduce their bills and make sure we have security of supply, instead of having to rely on some hostile states and dubious sources for our energy.

Instead of spending a huge amount of money (we don't have) to pursue a net zero policy which clearly will not make any difference at all to global temperatures, we should instead be focused on technological developments and supporting countries to adapt to any changing in the climate.

For example, if you lived in a place vulnerable to flooding would you want the UK to focus on spending hundreds of billions of pounds to get to net zero, or would you prefer them to spend money on building the best flood defences money can buy.  I certainly know which I would prefer.

The Netherlands is a country that, due to its geographical location, sits mostly below sea level and they are a leading example of how countries can adapt to rising sea levels.

The Dutch government has devised lakes, parks and market squares that are an asset to daily life but also double up as water relief areas when necessary.

The Dutch government has also set up the Sea Level Rise Knowledge Programme, a group of experts dedicated to mapping out potential adaptation strategies.

The fact of the matter is that the left-wing of British politics could never win the battle of ideas, and so have seized upon climate change as a way of getting their socialist utopia introduced by the back door. 

As Mrs Thatcher said, left-wing politics is like tomatoes - they start green but turn red.  We cannot allow our country to be destroyed by these left-wing socialist extremists, and we must ensure common sense prevails.