Climate campaigners disrupted Liz Truss’ appearance at the latest Conservative leadership calls to highlight what they claimed was her failure to tackle the global heating crisis.
During Truss’s opening remarks at the Winter Garden Theater in Eastbourne, several activists from the youth group Green New Deal Rising stood up to debate Truss about the government’s record and its policies.
Fatima Ibrahim was heard shouting “Liz Truss, you should be ashamed of yourself”. Another campaigner stood up as Fatima was pulled from the event, saying Truss had “no credible plan to deal with the biggest energy crisis… what you’ve announced won’t help people with higher energy bills of £3,000 per annum.” Three more activists were also seen protesting, and later in the event another protester was escorted away after disrupting the proceedings.
BREAKING: Tonight we confronted @trussliz in Tory leadership trash about her shameful role in the cost of living crisis.
Millions of people will face huge energy bills this winter, while their government supports climate destroyers like BP & Shell, making billions.
Green New Deal now ✊ pic.twitter.com/mP4ufEbQtU
— Green New Deal Rising (@GNDRising) August 5, 2022
Truss interrupted her speech to promise an immediate crackdown on militant protesters if she becomes prime minister. The crowd, made up mostly of Tory members and supporters, booed the activists and shouted “out, out, out” as they were led away.
Truss initially stopped his speech. He then said: “I would legislate immediately to make sure we stand up to militant unions, which stop ordinary commuters from getting into work. And I would legislate to protect our essential services. And make sure that militant activists like Extinction Rebellion are not capable of disrupting ordinary people who work hard, do the right thing and get to work.”
Truss added: “I will never, ever allow our democracy to be disrupted by unjust protests.”
Speaking about the protest, Ibrahim said: “Liz Truss is leading the polls and is likely to become the next Prime Minister, but she has nothing credible to say in response to the cost of living crisis and the climate crisis.
“The UK has just experienced record heatwaves and the energy giants are making billions in profits, while every day people are being pushed further into poverty as prices rise and wages stagnate.
“As young people who fear for our future, we desperately need a green new deal and political leadership to face this moment of crisis instead of this sideshow.”