Richard Madeley Clashes With Climate Activist In Fiery Oil Protest Debate | Good Morning Britain

if you were around where i was at the weekend there was queues and queues of um of people possibly panic buying which is what uh somebody i didn't see but i did see a lot of uh flowers that we had sold out yeah what are the people driving around yes and of course we've got 21 and a half million people on the road uh this week for easter uh and of course you know there are lots of questions over whether it's going to be enough fuel for everybody because of um these protests that have been going on and the home secretary pretty patel has called um the protest by eco activists as selfish and fanatical demonstrations were held across the weekend in oil depots and on bridges in central london which saw dozens of people arrested affected the midlands too and it may well spread across the country if these protests carry on well obviously the climate activists involved say that they need to bring an end to the use of fossil fuels so are they in danger of turning people off that caused by these actions well let's uh let's have a chat joining us now to discuss this is miranda willihan she's a just stop oil activist she says that we have to move away from oil for good and journalist larry turner who thinks that activists irritating when they disrupt travel and they block roads we'll come to you in a minute larry um many people would agree uh that we have to wean ourselves off oil we have to wean ourselves off fossil fuels we have to develop renewables i certainly feel that but at the same time they deeply resent having their personal lives massively interrupted by the actions that people like like you were taking and they can't get fuel for their cars they can't get fuel for their central heating systems they worry that if something bad happens that an ambulance won't get to them because that won't have fuel do you accept that you're possibly alienating people who in a general sense would support your background cause um well because you are regular yeah i mean i would say i don't think any of us want to be disrupting people's lives but i think given the science and the things that academics are saying about what oil is causing around the world and in this country too this is the level of action that needs to be taken when our government is failing on their energy policies and their climate pledges but you'd accept wouldn't you that it's a very complicated discussion to be had it's a very complicated thing and this just stop oil slogan it's very playgroundless isn't it it's very vicky pollard it's quite childish just stop oil i mean come on there's more to say than that i would say that the answers are actually very simple we need to stop new oil licensing and that's what we're asking you know with the oil reserves that we have now and the oil fields that we have that are still going that would provide us with eight years of oil if we said no to new oil and that's what we're asking for the blockades advance that argument they don't do they they simply cause nothing but disruption and you and you get a negative reaction i've got to tell you we we were expecting to get some messages of support from our viewers for you we haven't had one not one we've had nothing but but furious complaints from people nothing nothing nothing positive at all i wonder if any of you have read the latest ipcc reports that have come out this year you know what they have said is that we are on the road for climate catastrophe we are on the road for three degrees of warming this will happen to my generation to your children's generation potentially to your grandchildren and i think we have a moral responsibility to act now you know we're supposed to be climate leaders we're geopolitical leaders we could set the way for the for the whole planet by committing to stopping oil moving to energy efficiency moving to renewables moving to insulation and i think the children and the future deserve at least that there are from i think 2020 larry um the source of uk electricity from renewables outstripped what we use from fossil fuels so we are as a country moving in the right direction but clearly not as fast as we should be and that is the problem there's a sense of urgency that the eco activists have that they fear that the rest of us don't embody that and certainly government policy might not be um you know reacting to that sense of urgency which is required i think what i the problem i have is is this idea the one group of people have decided that they are the ones to save the world and there's a certain po faced incredibly irritated i'm getting it coming off in waves towards me here like how dare you question us because we know what's right i'm gonna glue my hand to some tarmac and then i'm gonna be a martyr and i'm gonna be a good person while the rest of us can't get on with our date i mean you know with respect miranda is 20 i'm more than twice her age you know i've got kids i've got a job i've got an elderly mother we have to get on with our lives most people feel they're doing their bit they are doing the recycling they're trying i can't afford an electric car i can't afford a heat pump most people can't afford that the people that the campaigners should be focusing on is the government not on ordinary people but it's about ego there's no doubt that we've had a winter without any uh protest but as soon as the sun comes out oh it's eco festival time and it is a festival it's a big jamboree it's let's get on social media let's sit down with a placard let's advertise to my friends what a great person i am well the rest and ordinary people who have to go to work can't get to work what's your response i'm just i just can't believe i just can't believe that that's what you're saying the united nations are telling us if we get to 1.7 degrees of warming half of the population will be exposed exposed to climate conditions that are unlivable and that's what we're here to talk about but i suppose the point isn't about saying the facts over and over again it's about the actual protest and about exactly the disruption and and i suppose what for some people i suppose it is the disconnect between understanding what you think you're achieving by creating disruption to ordinary people versus those big very important issues that we're all aware of but clearly you are very passionate about what how do you think it affects the speeding up of that those policies that you want what is the connection you're saying that you're aware of this but i don't think that you are aware you i don't think you are aware and i don't think the government and the media are doing their duty to show how serious this is because we're still no we're trying to uphold the science the science is being ignored the academics are being ignored but we're not talking about diesel cars we live in a democracy and it's not the right of one small group of people to tell everybody else how to live go through the democratic process talk to your mp get get a government government elected who is doing what you want them to do don't just simply think well we can change everything larry if that was going to work it would have worked by now and i think that there is a point they have to win hearts and minds and they're not winning when you talk about democracy let's talk about hypocrisy now this is a very typical message okay that we've had this morning this is jam on twitter speaking for many many people everything these stop oil protesters wear or buy or eat was delivered or manufactured using oil and that includes the glue that they use to stick themselves to the road with what they're saying is that your protests are by definition massively imperfect i mean the clothes that you're wearing to some extent owe their existence to oil because they were taken in a car or a truck or a van to a shop you know there are there are so many ways that oil impacts on your life uh as a protester but you don't acknowledge that we're talking about crop failure by 2030. we're talking about people in this country right now in fuel poverty because of the prices of oil and you're talking about the clothes that i'm wearing no this is so serious to be fair up to now you've answered questions but that's the complete avoidance of the question what about the accusation of hypocrisy that actually you owe your lifestyle just as much to oil as the rest of us if we want to talk about hypocrisy look at the government that has pledged for net zero by 20 quickly pledged for net zero by 2050 and now they're looking at opening 42 new oils about the allegations which will be releasing fossil fuels for my generation and for your children are you going to answer that question or would you rather i just how can we be talking about individual scale when we're asking the government to change so we as individuals no longer have to be reliable any proof that any of the disruption you have caused has changed government policy i would say no all it has done is the government has tried to ban protests it's been completely counter productive in the meantime the collateral damage to ordinary people has been huge we've been through such a trauma of the last two years i think there's a question to read the room here the whole nation has been through this terrible trauma a lot of people have lost their jobs they've lost their businesses they've lost their homes and yet now just what we think we're about to climb out of this terrible trauma now it's like can i get petrol to go and see my my 90 year old mother i mean if that is just that's why people are so angry about what you're doing because it's it's selfish it's narcissistic it's ego driven and it doesn't change government policy how do the police treat you on these demonstrations have you found their behavior towards you i mean it's not really a pleasant experience but i think that's a price worth paying when we're looking at the future and i i do apologize for disruption but do they going on i don't want to be causing disruption to people but i genuinely feel like we have no other choice we have done petitions you know there's a man on hunger strike outside parliament he's been there for 29 days and he's been ignored by our government that is peaceful downing street or parliament rather than ordinary but we we have tried that we sent a letter to the government asking for a conversation there's someone on a hunger strike like i said we've done marches we've sat outside we've tried to engage and it doesn't work and this is so serious and i ask you please to to talk about the people of this country deserve to know how serious the future is going to be and this is minimal disruption for what is coming right you were arrested obviously uh but released without charge so very quickly ask you how long do you protest for before the police eventually arrest you how long do you set that it's just it depends it depends the tactics that people use if they're locked on or and it can be hours can't it oh yeah and for those who are planning to get away over the easter holidays could they expect more disruption do you think i think the main message is that the government can stop this i think people will continue to disrupt and cause action because they are desperate here the government could stop this if they commit to no new oil production we have to say the message from four courts this morning is that things are getting back to normal yes there is absolutely no need to rush out and panic by um that many uh petrol stations didn't have fuel yesterday do have it this morning so things are getting back to normal things are settling down so we can all be calm about that

Channel: Good Morning Britain

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Id: -M0jRaOOkT8

Length: 10min 41sec (641 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 11 2022