Insulate Britain: Police prepare for M25 protests to resume

Police say they will take "firm, robust action" to move and arrest Insulate Britain activists if they resume protests next week.

The group, which wants all homes to be insulated by 2030, said it would halt its campaign until 25 October.

Chief Superintendent Jerry Westerman, of Surrey Police, said plans were in place to minimise disruption.

Insulate Britain has blocked roads, including on the M25 in Surrey and near the Port of Dover, during its campaign.

Members of the protest group were served with injunctions banning them from demonstrations on the M25, around the Port of Dover and on major roads around London.

Ch Supt Westerman said officers will judge each protest on "individual merit" if they resume.

"But if it is disrupting the M25 or other strategic roads and causing the significant disruption and the risk of harm that comes with that, then our approach is very much the same, which is that that kind of protest is unreasonable, and we will take firm, robust action to arrest and remove those protesters," he said.

Surrey Police Chief Constable Gavin Stephens said about 4,000 hours of police time had been spent on dealing with the protests, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He said: "We don't have an extra supply of police officers, staff, volunteers that we can just bring out when something like this happens. It is a distraction from our wider policing duty."

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