Injunction to Protect the M25

James Daly Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Kit Malthouse]

My hon. Friend expresses pithily the frustration and the cost of the protests to wider society. If only we had some way to recover that cost from those individuals. Sadly, that is unlikely under current legislation, although it is not beyond the realms of possibility that someone who was caught up in the protests and missed some commercial opportunity might wish to consult their lawyers and see whether there was some method of seeking compensation.

[James Daly (Bury North) (Con)]

I welcome the steps that my right hon. Friend and the Government have taken to address this very serious issue. It is not protest, but deliberate acts by people going on to the public highway and endangering people’s lives. That is completely different from peaceful protest, which we all welcome. We are all committed to supporting the green agenda—that is separate from people putting others’ lives at risk. In line with other questions to my right hon. Friend, I ask whether he will take every step necessary if those people turn up on the M6, M5 or wherever else and urge the police to take every action necessary to remove them immediately from the public highway, otherwise somebody will get killed.

[Kit Malthouse]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s support. As an esteemed officer of the court, he will know that, to get an injunction, we have made a case exactly as he says. It is not about protest, but about safety on the highway—something that the Government have to put first. If it works, fine, but if things get worse, we will obviously have to consider what more action we must take.