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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Jasmine Allday

GMB's Susanna Reid and Ed Balls in fiery clash with Silverstone protester

Susanna Reid and Ed Balls were caught in a fiery clash with a Silverstone protester on Good Morning Britain today.

The duo were presenting the ITV breakfast show this morning, as they discussed the recent protest at Silverstone during the British Grand Prix this weekend, where a number of people made their way onto the track while the race was red-flagged for a major incident on the first lap which saw a number of cars involved in a huge crash.

James Skeet appeared on the show today, where he spoke of his part in the Just Stop Oil protest - and how he felt it was necessary to be able to draw attention to climate change. But he was involved in a fiery clash over his comments.

The guest clashed with presenters Susanna Reid and Ed Balls today (mirror.co.uk)

During the chat, James was asked if he felt the protest had worked and if the campaign group had got what they wanted, as Ed explained he "totally understood the campaign" and that "climate change was really important".

"I'm on your programme talking about the most critical issue facing humanity, so yes I call that a success. It's absolutely about getting the publicity. We're out of time unfortunately; we're in a dire situation. If we don't take action, we're all going to die," he said.

Discussions soon turned to if he felt protesting was the best way to get his point across, and soon James accused Good Morning Britain of not reporting on the issues, leading to a heated exchange between Ed and Susanna and their guest.

James Skeet spoke about the protesting at Silverstone this weekend (mirror.co.uk)

"What your audience seemingly doesn't understand is that we're being categorically lied to, the government has no intention of dealing with this crisis ... and corporate media like yourselves are also complicit with this," he added.

An angry Susanna then jumped in to add: "You say one of your objectives was to get on this programme in order to talk about this issue, so to accuse us of being complicit undermines your point."

He then asked what would have been on the news agenda had they not protested, as Susanna quickly stepped in to insist that Laura Tobin was a big advocate of raising awareness of climate change issues on the show.

Susanna was unimpressed with his allegations that GMB didn't cover the climate change issue enough (mirror.co.uk)

Ed later said that "anyone who is conducting their daily life" is the target of protestors over the climate change crisis, but James took issue with what was said and soon a fiery clash ensued as they both spoke over one another.

In a statement regarding the incident, the FIA said: "We also confirm that after the red flag, several people attempted to enter the track. These people were immediately removed and the matter is now being dealt with by the local authorities."

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