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.
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Dale Vince gave Just Stop Oil tens of thousands to get the group started
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.
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.
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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.”
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Mr Vince did say, however, that he sometimes had issues with their tactics.
“I have disagreements with them from time to time,” he said. “When they were smashing bank windows I did say publicly I didn’t think it was the right thing to do.”
Mr Vince added that although 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”.
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“We’ve just given permission to a new coal mine in the teeth of climate crisis,” he said. “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.
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“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.”
Nigel Farage has told Sky News he “can’t be pushed or bullied” by anybody after Elon Musk said the Reform MP “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead his party.
In an interview with Sky’s political correspondent Ali Fortescue, Mr Farage said he has spoken with the billionaire owner of X since his criticism on 5 January, when Mr Musk said: “The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes.”
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Asked if the pair are still friends, Mr Farage said: “Of course we’re friends. He just says what he thinks at any moment in time.”
He added he has “been in touch” with Mr Musk, though wouldn’t divulge what they had discussed.
“Look, he said lots of supportive things. He said one thing that wasn’t supportive. I mean, that’s just the way it is,” Mr Farage said.
Musk and Farage met in December. Pic: PA
Asked if he was afraid to criticise the tech mogul, the Clacton MP said the situation was “the opposite”, and he openly disagreed with Mr Musk on his views on far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
Mr Farage said: “What he [Musk] was saying online was that effectively Tommy Robinson was a political prisoner and I wouldn’t go along with that.
“If I had gone along with that, he wouldn’t have put out a tweet that was against me.
“By the way, you know, I can’t be pushed or bullied or made to change by anybody.
“I stick to what I believe.”
Mr Musk has endorsed Robinson and claimed he was “telling the truth” about grooming gangs, writing on X: “Free Tommy Robinson”.
But Mr Farage said that Robinson, who is serving an 18-month jail term for contempt of court, isn’t welcome in Reform UK and neither are his supporters.
He said: “If people within Reform think Tommy Robinson should be a member of Reform and play a central role in Reform, that disagreement is absolutely fundamental.
“I’ve never wanted to work with people who were active in the BNP. I’ve made that clear right throughout the last decade of my on/off political career. So that’s what the point of difference is.”
Despite their disagreement, Mr Farage said he is confident Mr Musk will continue to support Reform and “may well” still give money to it.
The entrepreneur has previously spoken positively about Reform UK and there have been suggestions he could make a multi-million-pound donation in its favour.
Devolution plans ‘denial of democracy’
Mr Farage was speaking from Reform’s South East of England Conference, one of a series of regional events aimed at building up the party’s support base.
Elsewhere in the interview, he hit out at the Labour government’s devolution plans which could see some local elections scheduled for May postponed.
This would apply when councils seek permission to reorganise, so that smaller district authorities merge with other nearby ones to give them more sway over their area.
Mr Farage, who is hoping to make gains in the spring contests, claimed the plans are not about devolution but about “elections being cancelled”.
“I thought only dictators cancelled elections. This is unbelievable and devolution or a change to local government structures is being used as an excuse,” he said.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage earlier this month. Pic: PA
He claimed Tory-controlled councils are “grabbing it like it’s a life belt”, because they fear losing seats to Reform.
“It’s an absolute denial of democracy,” he added.
Mr Farage was also asked why many Reform members don’t like to speak on camera about why they support his party.
He said he did not accept there was a toxicity associated with Reform and claimed there was “institutional bias against anybody that isn’t left of centre”.
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
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