Madam Deputy Speaker, before making a statement on the Extinction Rebellion protests, I wanted to say how shocked and deeply saddened both I and the Home Secretary are by the incident in Birmingham in the early hours of Sunday. Our thoughts are with the families and victims of this appalling attack.
The police have made a number of arrests overnight and it would therefore not be appropriate for me to comment further on an ongoing investigation.
I am in contact with the Chief Constable and the Home Office stands ready to support the force in any way they need.
Just a few hours after this incident, a man sadly lost his life following a stabbing in Lewisham, and we of course have seen a serious shooting incident in Suffolk this morning.
I want to reiterate before the House that this government is absolutely committed to tackling violent crime in all its forms.
We have increased police funding, provided surge funds for those forces most affected by violent crime, and set up Violence Reduction units to identify those at risk and intervene early.
We will do everything in our power to tackle violent crime and prevent more senseless loss of life.
Madam Deputy Speaker, on Friday night, Extinction Rebellion protesters used trucks and bamboo scaffolds to block roads outside the Newsprinters works at Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, and Knowsley, near Liverpool.
These presses print the Sun, Times, Sun on Sunday and Sunday Times, as well as the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, and the London Evening Standard.
The police reacted quickly on Friday night, arrested around 80 people nationally, and worked throughout Saturday to clear the sites completely.
In Broxbourne, approximately 100 protestors were reported in attendance. Assistance from neighbouring forces was required, with work long into the early hours to ease the disruption.
51 protestors were arrested for public nuisance and subsequently charged with obstruction of the highway. They were taken to three custody suites in Herts, Beds, and London. Disruption concluded by midday on Saturday.
All main roads have remained open including the nearby A10, however there was disruption to the distribution of newspapers, as well as to local business.
In Knowsley a group of 30 protestors were reported in attendance, alongside 10 observers, 1 legal advisor and 1 police liaison individual.
30 protestors were arrested with disruption concluding by 10:45 the next morning. These protestors were subsequently charged with Aggravated Trespass and bailed to appear before magistrates at a later date.
24 protestors also attended a printworks in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, in Scotland.
In this instance, there was no disruption caused and no arrests were made.
Madam Deputy Speaker, a free press is the cornerstone of British society. The freedom to publish, without fear nor favour, to inform the public, to scrutinise our institutions, and to stimulate debate on events that affect each and every one of us is indispensable.
The actions of Extinction Rebellion were a direct challenge to this freedom, and to the values of liberty and tolerance that we hold dear.
Extinction rebellion claim to be an environmental campaign group. Yet that worthy cause is undermined by their tactics. Their actions show that they are not interested in purely peaceful protest, dialogue and debate, but instead seek to impose their view through this kind of direct action.
The right to peaceful protest is a fundamental tool of civic expression, and will never be curtailed by this government. Equally, it is unacceptable for groups such as XR to hide behind the guise of protest while committing criminal acts which prevent law abiding citizens from going about their lives.
All of us will remember the disruption caused last year, as the group blocked roads and major transport routes. Police forces across the country were forced to divert resources away from tackling other crime in order to oversee these occupations.
And it is a terrible shame to see these counterproductive tactics revived in the midst of a pandemic, and when we are only just recovering from the profound disruption of lockdown.
Throughout this pandemic, our police officers have been on the streets every day working to keep the public safe and stop the spread of coronavirus.
In placing unnecessary pressure on our emergency services, the actions of these protestors are contemptuous not only of the police, but of the public who they seek to protect.
The Irony is, Madam Deputy Speaker, that the United Kingdom is already doing more to tackle climate change and de-carbonise our economy than almost any other nation on earth.
The UK is the first major economy to legislate to end our contribution to climate change by 2050.
Since 2000, we have decarbonised our economy faster than any other G20 country.
The Prime Minister has set up two Cabinet committees focused on tackling climate change, one for strategy and another for implementation, discussing how departments can go further and faster in meeting our legally binding 2050 net zero target.
And we are hosting the next UN climate conference COP26, which will take place between in November this yeat in Glasgow.
It would be far more productive, Madam Deputy Speaker, if rather than plotting disruption and chaos, those behind Extinction Rebellion put their efforts into working with this government to tackle climate change and build the green economy.
While they persist in their current course, however, our message to these individuals is clear – if you plan to curtail our freedoms through criminal acts, be in no doubt you will face the full force of the law.
As a government, we will not stand by and allow the livelihoods of hardworking people to be undermined by a minority using the pretence of tacking climate change to impose an extremist world view.
Extinction Rebellion’s actions have shown how the tactics of disruptive protest are changing. The Home Office has been engaging with Police Chiefs to understand the challenges they face and to assess how they can facilitate peaceful protest whilst not causing significant disruption and infringing on the rights of others with differing views.
The Home Secretary and I are committed to learning the lessons of recent protests, and to ensuring that the police have the powers required to deal with the disruption caused by groups such as Extinction Rebellion and I will keep the tools available to tackle this behaviour under constant review.
As always, Madam Deputy Speaker our thanks go to the police for their tireless efforts to respond to all manner of incidents, and particularly at this time when so many have worked so hard during the pandemic. I hope that the leaders of Extinction Rebellion will issue an apology to them for actions that have been roundly condemned by all mainstream opinion in our country.
Madam Deputy Speaker by their actions this weekend XR have done nothing to bolster the cause of fighting climate change, rather they have reminded us of the value of a free press and free expression, and made us think about what more we may need to do to protect those freedoms.
I commend this statement to the House.