By David Churchill Chief Political Correspondent
22:10 16 Jun 2023, updated 22:38 16 Jun 2023
Labour’s brazen sympathy for eco-zealots Just Stop Oil was laid bare yesterday after a councillor jailed for joining disruptive protests was praised by fellow party members.
Richard Morgan was likened to Nelson Mandela by other councillors for being a ‘passionate fighter’ who was ‘jailed for his beliefs’.
He has even been appointed to lead the transport portfolio at Bridgwater town council in Somerset.
It comes after Labour accepted £1.5million in donations from businessmen Dale Vince, who has also helped bankroll Just Stop Oil and joined demonstrators.
Questions have been raised about whether the donations, made via Mr Vince’s firm Ecotricity, have influenced Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge to block new North Sea oil and gas exploration if he wins the next election.
Mr Morgan was one of 51 demonstrators arrested in October last year for contempt of court after sitting with protesters outside the Kingsbury Oil Terminal near Tamworth, Staffordshire, which was the subject of an injunction banning protests.
He was held in jail for a week pending the subsequent court case. He was then sentenced to 23 days’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, as well as being ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £320.77.
The councillor was arrested again weeks later following demonstrations in which traffic was blocked in central London. Energy Secretary Grant Shapps has led condemnation of Labour. Writing in the Daily Mail today, he says: ‘What was Labour’s response to the hours of inconvenience their councillor caused people? Did they suspend him? Even reprimand him?
‘No. They [the local Labour branch] issued a press release celebrating him as a ‘passionate fighter against climate change… arrested and jailed for his beliefs’ and comparing him to Nelson Mandela. And in the ultimate snub to those motorists fuming in traffic, Bridgwater’s Labour council appointed Richard Morgan as the councillor in charge of… transport.’
He accused Sir Keir of making Just Stop Oil’s ‘dreams come true’ with its pledge to stop new drilling in the North Sea – a policy opposed by its trade union backers.
Mr Shapps added: ‘Just this week, Labour voted against new laws to stop protestors disrupting your lives.
‘The Labour Party has become the political wing of Just Stop Oil – and other eco-extremists who use ordinary people’s lives as their weapon.’
Separately, it emerged Labour shadow minister Kerry McCarthy – MP for Bristol East – signed a pledge in 2019 by another eco-protest group, Extinction Rebellion, promising to put its three main demands into law.
A blog set up by Labour’s Somerset branch described Mr Morgan as a ‘passionate fighter against climate change’ who was ‘arrested and jailed for his beliefs’.
And Bridgwater council leader Brian Smedley defended him, saying the local party association was ‘quite happy with Mr Morgan’s contribution to the [climate] debate… I don’t think it’s a big issue.’
But last night it emerged that Mr Morgan was suspended, pending investigation, by the party on Wednesday.
A Labour spokesman said: ‘Keir Starmer has been outspoken in his condemnation of Just Stop Oil who he believes have put lives and livelihoods at risk. The idea they have influenced our policy is for the birds.’