KEIR Starmer’s keynote speech on education has been disrupted by young protesters demanding Labour commit to a “green new deal”.
As the Labour chief delivered the speech, he was surrounded by young people – but as he spoke, activists in the group began calling for climate action.
“Young people want action,” one protester said.
“We need a green new deal right now.”
Starmer said: “Will you just let me finish this and then come and talk to you about it.”
Starmer speech is interrupted by young protestors shouting he has watered down his green commitments pic.twitter.com/5YREi6lKtI
— Robert Peston (@Peston) July 6, 2023
Once they were escorted off stage, the Labour leader told the audience: “I think they may have missed the fact that the last mission I launched was on clean power by 2030 which is the single most effective way to get the green future that they and many others want.”
Climate activists from the Green New Deal Rising group claimed responsibility for the disruption to Sir Keir Starmer’s speech.
According to the group, one of the protesters was student Dieudonne Bila, who said in a statement: “I disrupted Keir Starmer’s speech because I desperately want to see a future government committed to protecting people here and all over the world from the climate crisis.
“We won’t stand by and allow private companies to continue making billions as heating becomes unaffordable, or be silent in the face of extreme heat, flooding and droughts.”
Elsewhere in his education speech, Starmer vowed to "change Britain" with his policies - despite education being devolved in Scotland and Wales.
In a speech in Gillingham, he said: “I promise you this, whatever the obstacles to opportunity, wherever the barriers to hope, my Labour government will tear them down.
“We will change Britain, break the link between where you start in life and where you end up.
“The earnings of our children should not be determined by those of their parents.”
More to follow
