A group of Greenpeace activists has been arrested after an hours-long protest on the roof of Rishi Sunak’s mansion over his new fossil fuel drilling “frenzy”.
Four campaigners draped the Prime Minister’s grade II-listed manor house in North Yorkshire with an oil-black fabric to “drive home the dangerous consequences” on Thursday.
Police were “managing the situation” after being called to the family home in Kirby Sigston, near Northallerton, about 8am after the activists climbed the roof while Mr Sunak, his wife and children were on holiday in California.
The group returned to the ground at about 1.15pm and were being spoken to by officers before being loaded into the back of police vans.
A North Yorkshire Police spokeswoman at the scene confirmed that the four protesters who scaled the roof had been arrested.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, who is standing in for Mr Sunak during his holiday, told the protesters to “stop the stupid stunts”.
Former North Yorkshire Deputy Chief Constable Peter Walker said protesters being able to climb the prime minister’s house was a “major breach of security”.
Mr Walker, who spent 30 years in policing before retiring in 2003, told LBC: “I am absolutely astonished that they have been able to gain the access that they have.
“It is clearly, in my view, a major breach of security. Obviously, nobody was there to prevent what they were doing and they’ve had access to the roof as well.”
Philip Evans, Greenpeace UK’s climate campaigner, said: “We desperately need our prime minister to be a climate leader, not a climate arsonist.
“Just as wildfires and floods wreck homes and lives around the world, Sunak is committing to a massive expansion of oil and gas drilling.
“He seems quite happy to hold a blowtorch to the planet if he can score a few political points by sowing division around climate in this country. This is cynical beyond belief.”
Mr Sunak has defended a planned expansion of oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.
He claimed it is “entirely consistent” with the government’s goal to reach net zero by 2050.
Downing Street said granting more than 100 new oil and gas licences off the coast of Scotland will “boost British energy independence” and “reduce reliance on hostile states”.
But critics have argued it will sent “a wrecking ball through the UK’s climate commitments”.
North Yorkshire Police said the force was called just after 8am this morning to protesters climbing onto the roof of the Prime Minister’s home.
A spokesman said: “Officers have contained the area and no one has entered the building.”
