A top Just Stop Oil and Labour donor today admitted he spoke to Sir Keir Starmer last week, days before the party confirmed it wants to ban new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.
Millionaire Ecotricity founder Dale Vince confirmed he spoke with the opposition leader by phone last week.
But he said they did not discuss his backing for the hardline environmental group which has targeted high-profile events across the country in recent weeks.
It came amid questions over his support for Labour – to the tune of £1.5million since 2015 – and whether it has influenced the party’s green policies.
Mr Vince is also facing criticism over £300,000 of taxpayers money Ecotricity received during the pandemic, while he was donating to Labour.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning Mr Vince, 61, was asked when he last spoke to Sir Keir.
‘Actually it was last week,’ he replied. ‘And it was the second time.’
He added: ‘Sometimes laws are unjust. And when that happens, people have to stand up and do something about it. This climate crisis will be with us for hundreds of years.’
At the weekend Labour sources confirmed it opposes new drilling in the North Sea, with a party source telling the Sunday Times new licences ‘will do nothing to cut bills’.
Ending exploitation of North Sea reserves is a top JSO demand.
However, shadow pensions minister Nick Thomas-Symonds today denied the cash was influencing party policy, branding JSO’s stunts ‘unacceptable and counter productive’.
Millionaire Dale Vince’s Ecotricity business received more than £300,000 in grants from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, it was revealed today.
At the same time the 61-year-old ploughed £770,000 into Sir Keir Starmer’s party, including a direct donation of £10,000 to his deputy, Angela Rayner.
Mr Vince’s business received more than £300,000 in grants from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
At the same time the 61-year-old ploughed £770,000 into Sir Keir Starmer‘s party, including a direct donation of £10,000 to his deputy, Angela Rayner.
A Treasury source told the Telegraph: ‘The point of furlough was to help keep people in work, not allow companies to make donations to Labour.
‘It is obvious Dale Vince’s company didn’t need the support, so he should voluntarily repay the money. Sir Keir Starmer should also ask himself whether this was an appropriate use of furlough funds, and hand the donation back.’
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, added: ‘Covid support payments were intended to help companies survive. They were not meant to be a covert way of funding political parties. Ecotricity should repay taxpayers urgently and fund its politicking out of its own pocket.’
Mr Vince told the paper: ‘Like hundreds of thousands of other British businesses, we used the Government’s furlough scheme during successive lockdowns, for its purpose – to maintain jobs and ensure we stayed in business. It’s one of the few things this government got right in the pandemic.
‘We have given money to Labour for many years, we did so before the furlough scheme and after it – and we will do so again. I firmly believe only Labour can sort out the mess that successive Tory governments have caused to our country and economy.’
Sir Keir is under pressure over more than £1.5million Labour has received from Mr Vince since 2015, due to his cash for the eco-zealots behind a wave of disruptive protests.
Today, Mr Thomas-Symonds lashed out at the group this morning, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We have been extremely clear on our views on Just Stop Oil.
‘Indeed, Keir Starmer has said of them ‘just go home’ because they are not actually promoting the cause of tackling climate change.
‘What they are doing is entirely counterproductive and the only debate it’s provoking is about our public order laws.’
Mr Thomas-Symonds said Mr Vince, a green energy entrepreneur and chairman of League Two football club Forest Green Rovers, is a ‘successful businessman here in the UK’, adding: ‘He’s a perfectly legitimate person to take money from.
‘If he wishes to give money to other causes that’s up to him but it can hardly be said that this affects our views as a Labour Party on Just Stop Oil.’
