TESLA should be blocked from receiving any contracts from the UK Government following owner Elon Musk's remarks to a far-right rally over the weekend, campaigners have said.
LibDem leader Ed Davey is urging ministers to take action after the tech giant warned "violence is coming" to the UK and has called on all major political leaders to call him out.
Speaking to the Unite the Kingdom protest in London, Musk called for a “dissolution of parliament” and fresh elections to kick out Labour and told the crowd they will have to “fight back or die” if they want to defend their country.
He said: "Violence is going to come to you.
“You will have no choice. You are in a fundamental situation here where, whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die. That’s the truth.”
He told the crowd he wanted to see a UK where people “wake up and look forward to the future”, adding: “We must have revolutionary government change for that to occur. And this is not ordinary-course-of-business sort of stuff.
“This really requires everyone to sort of marshal the people, to take charge and reform the government, and make sure the government is for the people, by the people.”
Musk was interviewed by Tommy Robinson and appeared on a screen on stage so protesters could watch.
Davey has written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer accusing Musk of a “reckless and dangerous assault” on British values.
He said: “We must make clear that no individual, however wealthy or powerful, can get away with using their platform to inflame tensions and incite violence.”
On Radio 4′s Today programme on Monday, Davey added: “This is a man who said that civil war in the UK is inevitable. He’s called for Americans to overturn the ‘tyrannical government in the UK’. He doesn’t use language sensibly, he’s deeply irresponsible, deeply dangerous.
"I think it’s time that all major political party leaders call him out. This is not acceptable language. He is interfering in our politics, and when the world’s second wealthiest man does that I think we should respond.”
A LibDem source told HuffPost UK that the UK Government should target Musk’s firm, Tesla.
“We need to hit him in the pocket where it hurts,” the source said.
Meanwhile, women and equalities minister Baroness Smith became the first UK Government figure to directly criticise Musk.
She told the Today programme: “Those words were wrong and they were dangerous. We are a country that believes in the right to protest and the right to free speech, but we’re also a country that recognises and celebrates our diversity. That is actually what our flag is about.
“For Elon Musk to talk about violence in our political system, when MPs have been killed in this country as part of our democratic system is wholly unacceptable. That’s not the way that we behave in this country and that’s not what the basis of our democracy is.”
