Westminster Accounts: Labour and Starmer have accepted thousands from major Just Stop Oil donor
Sir Keir Starmer and Labour have accepted hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations from a wealthy climate activist who has also been funnelling money to Just Stop Oil – a group condemned by the party.
Ecotricity, a company founded by Dale Vince, gave more than £20,000 to Sir Keir Starmer during Labour’s 2020 leadership contest. Since the last election, the firm has given £360,000 to the party. Last October, a further £10,000 was donated to deputy leader Angela Rayner.
Mr Vince, the chairman of Forest Green Rovers football club, is also one of the biggest backers of Just Stop Oil – a campaign group whose protesters have carried out a series of stunts, including gluing themselves to roads and throwing a can of soup over a painting by Vincent van Gogh, to rally against the use of fossil fuels.
Forest Green Rovers Chairman Dale Vince
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Sir Keir has previously condemned Just Stop Oil activists, saying they were “wrong” and “arrogant”, while shadow justice secretary Steve Reed has labelled the group “eco-zealots” and called for a “clamp down on their disruptive nonsense”.
In an interview with Sky News, Mr Vince confirmed he provided the protest group with “tens of thousands” of pounds to get started and gave them an additional lifeline in November when their funding ran out.
He said he had also given money to Extinction Rebellion and Sea Shepherd because he thought it was important to donate to direct action groups.
Referring to Just Stop Oil, he said: “I understand why they do what they do. It’s what they have in their power to do. Whereas big business has different powers to pursue its agenda, and we have no real answer to that except sometimes to take to the streets.”
He did say, however, that he sometimes had issues with their tactics.
“I have disagreements with them from time to time,” Mr Vince said. “When they were smashing bank windows I did say publicly I didn’t think it was the right thing to do.”
Read more:
Company with no staff or website donates hundreds of thousands to Labour MPs
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The money flowing into Westminster
Mr Vince added that – while people had mixed views on the disruption that Just Stop Oil had caused – “we’ve reached a point where taking to the streets is the only power we’ve got”.
He asked: “We’ve just given permission to a new coal mine in the teeth of climate crisis. What are we to think and do about that?”
Donations to the Labour Party, meanwhile, were intended to advance a progressive political agenda, Mr Vince said.
The entrepreneur said he gave money to Labour in order “to help them win, to help them into government so they have the chance to deliver their agenda, which is my agenda, social justice and a green economy”.
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Who are Just Stop Oil?
Founded by Mr Vince in 1995, Ecotricity now supplies energy to about 200,000 homes and businesses in the UK. The company employs more than 800 people.
He said he has only spoken to Sir Keir on two occasions and only met him once, despite the £20,000 donation.
“I’m a particular fan of his, the way he goes about things and the things he says. I think he’d be a great prime minister,” he said.
Back in October, during a phone-in on LBC, Sir Keir dismissed the actions of Just Stop Oil activists as “wrong” and said he would continue with Conservative plans for stiff sentences for climate protesters who block roads.
“I think it’s arrogant of those gluing themselves to the road to think they’re the only people that have got the answer to this. They haven’t got the answer.”
The fast-moving developments on Trump’s Ukraine peace deal are dominating the G20 summit in South Africa, as European leaders scramble to put together a counter-proposal to the US-Russia 28-point plan and reinsert Ukraine into these discussions.
European countries are now working up proposals to put to President Trump ahead of his deadline of Thursday to agree a deal.
Ukraine is in a tight spot. It cannot reject Washington outright – it relies on US military support to continue this war – but neither can it accept the terms of a deal that is acutely favourable to Russia, requiring Ukraine to give up territory not even occupied by Moscow and reducing its army.
Overnight, the UK government has reiterated its position that any deal must deliver a “just and lasting peace”.
Ukraine war latest: Kyiv to discuss ending war in talks in Switzerland
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Keir Starmer calls for growth plan at G20
The prime minister, who spoke with E3 allies President Macron of France, Chancellor Merz of Germany and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine on the phone on Friday, is having more conversations today with key partners as they work out how to handle Trump and improve this deal for Ukraine.
One diplomatic source told me allies are being very careful not to criticise Trump or his approach for fear of exacerbating an already delicate situation.
Instead, the prime minister is directing his attacks at Russia.
Read more:
Trump’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan in full
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Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a plenary session on the first day of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. Pic: Reuters
“There is only one country around the G20 table that is not calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and one country that is deploying a barrage of drones and missiles to destroy livelihoods and murder innocent civilians,” he said on Friday evening.
“Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but its actions never live up to its words.”
Pic: AP
On the Trump plan, the prime minister said allies are meetin on Saturday “to discuss the current proposal on the table, and in support of Trump’s push for peace, look at how we can strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations”.
Strengthening the plan really means that they want to rebalance it towards Ukraine’s position and make it tougher on Russia.
“Ukraine has been ready to negotiate for months, while Russia has stalled and continued its murderous rampage. That is why we must all work together with both the US and Ukraine, to secure a just and lasting peace once and for all,” said the prime minister.
“We will continue to coordinate closely with Washington and Kyiv to achieve that. However, we cannot simply wait for peace.
“We must strain every sinew to secure it. We must cut off Putin’s finance flows by ending our reliance on Russian gas. It won’t be easy, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Pic: AP
Europeans hadn’t even seen this deal earlier in the week, in a sign that the US is cutting other allies out of negotiations – for now at least.
Starmer and other European leaders want to get to a position where Ukraine and Europe are at least at the table.
There is some discussion about whether European leaders such as Macron and Meloni might travel to Washington to speak to Trump early next week in order to persuade him of the European and Ukrainian perspective, as leaders did last August following the US-Russian summit in Alaska.
But Sky News understands there are no discussions about the PM travelling to Washington next week ahead of the budget.
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