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Insulate Britain

Website:

www.insulatebritain.com
Type:

Climate Activist Group
Founded:

2021
Location:

United Kingdom

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Insulate Britain is a radical activist group in the United Kingdom that demands that the UK government fund a program to insulate all homes in the country to reduce carbon emissions. 1 It organized protests for two months in 2021 during which protesters blocked major roadways including the M25, causing hours of traffic backup. Several protesters were arrested, with some sentenced to prison time. It was founded by six members of radical environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion. 2

Background

Insulate Britain is a radical activist group in Great Britain that demands that the UK government fund a program to insulate all homes in the country to reduce carbon emissions. 3 It was founded by six members of radical environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion 4 which uses mass disruptions intended to lead to arrests as a protest tactic. 5 Its website was launched in July 2021, and it began hosting online events across the UK and asking for donations. Its first protest occurred on September 13, 2021. 6

Insulate Britain’s demands are: “That the UK government immediately promises to fully fund and take responsibility for the insulation of all social housing in Britain by 2025” and “That the UK government immediately promises to produce within four months a legally binding national plan to fully fund and take responsibility for the full low-energy and low-carbon whole-house retrofit, with no externalized costs, of all homes in Britain by 2030 as part of a just transition to full decarbonization of all parts of society and the economy.” 7

Insulate Britain claims to be decentralized. Carpenter Cameron Ford and electrician Liam Norton are two of the group’s more visible spokesmen. 8

Notable Demonstrations

In September 2021, Insulate Britain began blocking traffic on major roadways in and around London, including around Parliament and on the M25, 9 which is one of the busiest highways in Europe. 10 Almost 80 people were arrested at the initial demonstrations. Additional protests continued to take place with more protesters arrested. 11

Protests blocking major roads continued for two months and formally stopped on November 4, 2021, with protesters blocking the roads around Parliament. 12 Jury trials for protesters arrested continue through 2023 and into 2024. 13

In February 2022, Insulate Britain issued a statement saying the campaign had failed in its aim to make the government insulate Britain’s homes and that the “next campaign of civil resistance against the betrayal of this country must be even more ambitious.” 14

The same month, Insulate Britain joined Just Stop Oil, a coalition of activists in the UK demanding that the government stop all licensing for oil exploration and production of fossil fuels. 15

According to Insulate Britain, as of July 2023 the Crown Prosecution Service has charged 56 protesters with 201 charges of public nuisance with trial dates into 2024. There have been 18 jury trials to date with 2 acquittals, 4 hung juries, 10 guilty verdicts, and 3 deferrals to 2024. 16 In a statement, Insulate Britain declared that “ the British legal system no longer has legitimacy in our eyes […] The courts will continue to be a site of nonviolent civil resistance for as long as it takes for the judiciary to do what is right.” 17

According to a September 2023 article from the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Insulate Britain’s disruptive civil resistance resulted in over 250 media stories about the protests. 18

Controversy

Insulate Britain spokesperson Liam Norton discussed the group’s M25 protests on a “Good Morning Britain” episode. The show’s hosts indicated that, although they agree with the group’s aims, it was causing havoc to hundreds of motorists and that its activists risked injuring themselves. 19

After three weeks of protests blocking motorways, a YouGov poll indicated that 72% of the public opposed the group’s protests. 20 During the two months of protests and road shutdowns, media coverage called Insulate Britain “the most hated protest group in Britain.” 21

Members of the group have been criticized as hypocrites. Protester Joshua Smith, who has led several of the protests and claims to be a bricklayer, owns several properties that he rents out that have little to no insulation. It was discovered that Insulate Britain spokesperson Liam Norton had not insulated his home as well. 22 Previously Norton was part of an Extinction Rebellion protest that blockaded a newspaper print works, preventing the distribution of three and a half million papers. 23

References

  1.  Insulate Britain website. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://insulatebritain.com/
  2. Sonia Elks. “Who Are Climate Group Insulate Britain and What Do They Want?” Global Citizen. November 22, 2021. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/who-are-insulate-britain-what-campaign-for-climate/#:~:text=Spokesperson%20Liam%20Norton%20said%20Insulate,action%20to%20combat%20climate%20change
  3. Insulate Britain website. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://insulatebritain.com/
  4. Sonia Elks. “Who Are Climate Group Insulate Britain and What Do They Want?” Global Citizen. November 22, 2021. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/who-are-insulate-britain-what-campaign-for-climate/#:~:text=Spokesperson%20Liam%20Norton%20said%20Insulate,action%20to%20combat%20climate%20change
  5. Ben Smoke. “Extinction Rebellion protesters who want to be arrested: be careful what you wish for.” The Guardian. April 15, 2019. Accessed October 3, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/15/extinction-rebellion-protesters-arrested-stansted-15
  6. “Who are Insulate Britain, the group blocking M25 traffic, and what are they campaigning for?” itvX. September 20, 2021. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://www.itv.com/news/2021-09-20/who-are-insulate-britain-the-group-blocking-the-m25-and-what-do-they-want
  7. “We Demand.” Insulate Britain. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://insulatebritain.com/
  8. Sonia Elks. “Who Are Climate Group Insulate Britain and What Do They Want?” Global Citizen. November 22, 2021. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/who-are-insulate-britain-what-campaign-for-climate/#:~:text=Spokesperson%20Liam%20Norton%20said%20Insulate,action%20to%20combat%20climate%20change.
  9. “What is Insulate Britain and what does it want?” BBC. November 17, 2021. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58916326
  10.  “Information About The M25.” M25 Traffic. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://www.m25traffic.co.uk/m25motorway/
  11. “Who are Insulate Britain, the group blocking M25 traffic, and what are they campaigning for?” itvX. September 20, 2021. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://www.itv.com/news/2021-09-20/who-are-insulate-britain-the-group-blocking-the-m25-and-what-do-they-want
  12. Samira Shackle. “ ‘We’ll be hated, but it will stir things up’: Insulate Britain on what happened next – and being right all along.” The Guardian. December 17, 2022. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/17/insulate-britain-on-what-happened-next-energy-crisis
  13. “Breaking: Four Insulate Britain Supporters Found Guilty.” Insulate Britain Press. July 27, 2023. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://insulatebritain.com/2023/07/27/breaking-four-insulate-britain-supporters-found-guilty/
  14. “Statement from Insulate Britain: We Must Acknowledge We Have Failed.” Insulate Britain – Press. February 7, 2022. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://insulatebritain.com/2022/02/07/statement-from-insulate-britain-we-must-acknowledge-we-have-failed/
  15. “Breaking: Insulate Britain Join the Just Stop Oil Coalition. “We Need to Insulate Britain. We Need to Just Stop Oil.”” Insulate Britain – Press. February 15, 2022. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://insulatebritain.com/2022/02/15/breaking-insulate-britain-jointhe-just-stop-oil-coalition-we-need-to-insulate-britain-we-need-to-just-stop-oil/
  16. “Breaking: Four Insulate Britain Supporters Found Guilty.” Insulate Britain Press. July 27, 2023. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://insulatebritain.com/2023/07/27/breaking-four-insulate-britain-supporters-found-guilty/
  17. Damien Gayle. “Insulate Britain activist jailed for eight weeks for contempt of court.” The Guardian. February 7, 2023. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/07/insulate-britain-activist-david-nixon-jailed-for-eight-weeks-for-contempt-of-court
  18. Margaret Klein Salamon. “Coc Gauff Won. So Did Climate-Change Protestors.” The Chronicle of Philanthropy. September 12, 2023. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://www.philanthropy.com/article/coco-gauff-won-so-did-climate-change-protestors
  19. Shania Wilson. “Who is Liam Norton, the Insulate Britain Activist Viral from GMB?” HITC. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/09/22/who-is-liam-norton-the-insulate-britain-activist-viral-from-gmb/
  20. Jemma Conner. “Three weeks into motorway climate change protests, public opposition has only grown.” YouGov UK. October 8, 2021. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/38639-three-weeks-motorway-climate-change-protests-publi?redirect_from=%2Ftopics%2Fpolitics%2Farticles-reports%2F2021%2F10%2F08%2Fthree-weeks-motorway-climate-change-protests-publi
  21. Samira Shackle. “‘We’ll be hated, but it will stir things up’: Insulate Britain on what happened next – and being right all along.” The Guardian. December 17, 2022. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/17/insulate-britain-on-what-happened-next-energy-crisis
  22. Rob Pattison, Julia Atherley, Amir Razavi. “M25 eco hypocrite has 1-million-pound property empire… and poor insulation.” The Sun. September 23, 2021. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/16215628/m25-property-empire-poor-insulation/
  23. Sara Aisha Kent. “M25 activist who stormed off GMB unmasked as man who glued himself to court table.” Mirror. September 22, 2021. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/m25-activist-who-stormed-gmb-25045241
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