Just Stop Oil: Demonstrations

(asked on 1st September 2023) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the cost of the Just Stop Oil protests on police forces.


Answered by
Chris Philp Portrait
Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
This question was answered on 11th September 2023

In 2022, the police response to the highly disruptive tactics deployed by Just Stop Oil cost the taxpayer over £14.5 million. This, alongside the disruption caused the daily lives of hard-working people trying to go about their business, is unacceptable.

The most recent campaign of slow walk protests has alone cost the Metropolitan Police Service over £7.7 million. The police response also required the use of around 23,500 officer shifts, diverting attention away from local communities.

This Government is committed to tackling these guerrilla tactics which use up precious resource and disrupt the lives of others. That is why we introduced the Public Order Act 2023, which improves the police’s ability to manage highly disruptive protests and take a proactive approach to prevent such disruption happening in the first place. For example, the lock-on offence and the associated stop and search power will allow the police to pro-actively prevent the selfish minority of protesters causing serious disruption on our roads and save time and money.

We have also amended the Public Order Act 1986 via statutory instrument to align the definition of “serious disruption” with the Public Order Act 2023. These changes give the police greater flexibility and clarity over when to intervene to stop disruptive tactics such as blocking roads and slow walks.

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