Rishi’s roof protest

Trial begins for four activists who mounted Rishi Sunak’s roof in oil and gas protest

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Published: July 23, 2024
This Article was written by: Katie Hill - My Green Pod
activism, activists, fossil fuels, gas, law, legal, oil, policy, politics

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***UPDATE, 25 July: This afternoon Judge Lower informed the court that he had been unable to complete his ruling on whether to dismiss the case, and would be delivering it on 20 September this year. If he decides not to dismiss, the rest of the case will be heard on 11 and 12 November this year.***

Main image: (left to right) Alexandra Wilson, Amy Rugg-Easey, Mathieu Soete, Michael Grant. Four Greenpeace activists who draped oil-black fabric over the side of Rishi Sunak’s North Yorkshire mansion, in a protest responding to his promise to ‘max out’ UK oil and gas reserves, outside York & Selby Magistrates’ Court where they will be charged with criminal damage. © Lucy Cartwright / Greenpeace

Four Greenpeace volunteers began their court case for criminal damage charges in York Magistrates’ Court today (23 June).The case is expected to last two days.

Almost a year ago, on 03 August 2023, while Rishi Sunak and his family were holidaying in California, the four Greenpeace activists climbed on the roof of his mansion in Yorkshire and covered one side of the building in black fabric, in protest at his decision to licence ‘hundreds’ more oil and gas drill sites in the North Sea.

Activists on trial

The four volunteer activists are:

Michael Grant, 64, an Edinburgh resident originally from Aberdeen, who was formerly an officer in the paratroopers and a financial advisor.

Amy Rugg-Easey, 33, a Newcastle resident originally from Milton Keynes who has worked as a watchmaker and a boatbuilder.

Mathieu Soete, 38, an Antwerp resident originally from Roeselare in Belgium, formerly worked in the EU Parliament and is currently an energy campaigner.

Alexandra Wilson, 32, a St Ives resident originally from Beverley in Yorkshire. Alexandra is a trainee physiotherapist who formerly worked in catering.

The political background

Since last autumn, the debate around North Sea drilling has progressed significantly.

After a year of the government rolling back climate policies, trying to encourage fossil fuel investment and using the environment as a wedge issue, this approach was firmly rejected by the electorate earlier this month, giving the Conservatives the worst result in the party’s history.

We now have a government committed to no new licences for North Sea drilling.

‘Less than a year ago, Rishi Sunak wanted to hand out hundreds of new fossil fuel licences in the middle of a climate crisis and against warnings from scientists. Today, we have a government elected on a mandate to stop new North Sea oil and gas licences and invest in renewables. We were right to warn Rishi Sunak about the consequences of a major oil and gas expansion – he made the wrong decision and it took millions of voters to set it right.

‘Change is both necessary and possible, but it won’t happen on its own, and we won’t stand back when governments are failing. As the world faces ever more floods, fires and droughts we must hold politicians to account for their mistakes, that’s what peaceful protest is about. We want to thank our activists, and all activists who have the courage to take risks and make sacrifices to protect our climate and our democracy.’

PAUL MOROZZO
Greenpeace climate campaigner

The legal context

Last month the Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of Finch vs Surrey County Council which blocked the development of an onshore oil well in the Weald on the grounds that the Environmental Impact Assessment did not consider the Scope 3 or ‘downstream’ emissions from the well (ie the carbon emissions that would be produced by burning the oil once it had been extracted and sold).

This omission was described as an ‘error in law’ by the new government, which has now withdrawn from defending the planning decision giving permission to the Cumbria coal mine, citing this ruling in its reasoning.

The Environmental Impact Assessments for North Sea drilling licences also omitted scope 3 emissions.

In the case of the Rosebank field alone, the scope 3 emissions are expected to be higher than the combined annual emissions of all the 28 lowest income countries in the world.