Just Stop Oil has claimed it is ‘hanging up the high vis’ and ending its campaign of stunts after three years of protests that have infuriated the country.
The environmental campaign group bragged it is stopping direct action as Labour has caved in and made its main demand government policy.
Just Stop Oil’s goal was to wean Britain off fossil fuels – a policy which is now being implemented by Mr Miliband’s Department for Net Zero.
Labour was also accused of ‘caving in’ to the eco-zealots after a judge upheld a legal challenge to two new oil and gas fields in the North Sea earlier this year.
Today, Just Stop Oil announced its final protest will take place in Parliament Square in central London on April 26.
The group has infuriated the British public for three years with waves of controversial, and often illegal, protests which have caused havoc for people trying to go about their daily lives.
Long suffering Brits have missed funerals, cancer appointments and seen tens of thousands of journeys disrupted by the eco-zealots as part of their campaign.
Members of the group have also vandalised some of the nation’s most beloved attractions including Stonehenge, two Van Gogh paintings and invaded multiple sporting events.
Seven activists are currently in prison, including co-founder Roger Hallam for four years, while 16 are due to be sentenced. The Government denies it has caved in to their demands.
‘Just Stop Oil’s initial demand to end new oil and gas is now government policy, making us one of the most successful civil resistance campaigns in recent history,’ the group said.
Last summer, five protesters were handed sentences for planning road-block protests on the M25
Supporters threw soup over two of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings at the ‘Poets and Lovers’ exhibition at the National Gallery just hours after fellow activists were jailed for doing the same thing to his famous Sunflowers masterpiece
Members of the group have invaded multiple sporting events including the Snooker Championship in Sheffield
Just Stop Oil targeted the Ashes at Lord as well as Wimbledon, the British Grand Prix
‘We’ve kept over 4.4 billion barrels of oil in the ground and the courts have ruled new oil and gas licences unlawful.
‘So it is the end of soup on Van Goghs, cornstarch on Stonehenge and slow marching in the streets. But it is not the end of trials, of tagging and surveillance, of fines, probation and years in prison.’
The government, however, has strongly denied it has given in to the group’s demands.
Commenting on the announcement, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘That’s a decision for them, we have been very clear when it comes to oil and gas that it has a future for decades to come in our energy mix.
Asked if the Government had agreed to their demand of ‘shutting down the North Sea’, the spokesman added: ‘It’s clearly not the case, and I think when it comes to Just Stop Oil, they have succeeded in creating a significant amount of disruption and public nuisance, and spoiled a few oil paintings, but when it comes to our plans for energy security, they remain as stated.’
‘It is obviously up to them to decide how they want to conduct their operations, although I’m sure there will be plenty of members of the public happy to hear that they will be causing less disruption in the future.’
It comes after a judge earlier this year upheld a legal challenge on the Rosebank oil field and Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea.
Greenpeace and Uplift argued at the Court of Session in Edinburgh that process had not been followed in granting consent for the two sites.
The UK Government and North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) were found to have acted unlawfully by not taking into account emissions resulting from the burning of the extracted fuels.
The Tories were in power when clearance was given for Shell’s proposals to develop the Jackdaw field in 2022, and Equinor and Ithaca Energy’s Rosebank plans in September 2023.
Two activists threw orange paint at Stonehenge just before the summer solstice to the ire of the public
A University of Manchester building was defaced by activists in October 2023
The group targeted the Wimbledon tennis championships, the Ashes at Lord and the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield
The blockade across different parts of the M25 motorway orbiting London took place in November 2022
Just Stop Oil has said it is going to stop carrying out its campaign of stunts
Ed Miliband’s Department for Net Zero had been consulting on a new process – despite pledging not to approve any new licences in the North Sea basin.
But Conservatives condemned Mr Miliband for refusing to defend the case, saying ministers were ‘caving to the green lobby’.
Labour has previously distanced itself from Just Stop Oil, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer criticising its actions and saying protesters must face the full force of the law.
But the Government has said it will not issue licences for new oil and gas exploration, while a series of recent court cases have halted fossil fuel projects including oil drilling in Surrey, a coal mine in Cumbria and the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields in the North Sea.
Just Stop Oil boasted that they ‘exposed the corruption at the heart of our legal system, which protects those causing death and destruction while prosecuting those seeking to minimize harm’.
They added: ‘Just Stop Oil will continue to tell the truth in the courts, speak out for our political prisoners and call out the UK’s oppressive anti-protest laws.’
The protest group said that they needed a different approach and will be creating a ‘new strategy’ and that ‘nothing short of revolution is going to protect us from the coming storms’.
‘We continue to rely on small donations from the public to make this happen.
‘This is not the end of civil resistance. Governments everywhere are retreating from doing what is needed to protect us from the consequences of unchecked fossil fuel burning.’
Their new demand is that ‘the UK Government sign up to a Fossil Fuel Treaty to Just Stop Oil by 2030,’ their website states.
Will McCallum, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: ‘Just Stop Oil paid a heavy price for raising their voices at a time when politicians and corporations are trying to silence peaceful protesters – in the streets and in the courts.
‘We must not allow our hard-won right to protest to be stripped away, because it is the right that all other rights depend upon.
‘Greenpeace and many others will continue to defend this proud tradition of taking action on issues that matter to make change possible.’
Just Stop Oil was founded in February 2022 and began protesting at oil terminals two months later.
Protesters have received criticism for disruptive and often illegal methods of activism.
They shut down the M25 and Dartford crossing in November 2022 before targeting the Wimbledon tennis championships, the Ashes at Lord, the British Grand Prix and the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.
In January, two supporters defaced Charles Darwin’s grave in Westminster Abbey by spraying ‘1.5 is dead’ over the marble headstone.
In January, two supporters defaced Charles Darwin’s grave in Westminster Abbey by spraying ‘1.5 is dead’ over the marble headstone
The group boasted that they no longer need to carry out stunts because the government has introduced their aims
Just Stop Oil activists brought traffic to a standstill with a slow march in Cambridge in December 2023
A number of activists also sprayed orange paint on the floors and walls at Heathrow Airport
Just Stop Oil activists employ a slow march tactic to slow and disrupt traffic at a protest in London
Activists were jailed for vandalising Van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers masterpiece
Worshippers and tourists watched on as Alyson Lee, 66, and Di Bligh, 77, began spray painting the marble memorial at 10am.
The eco-zealots delivered a brief lecture to onlookers about how Darwin – the founder of evolutionary biology – would be ‘turning in his grave’ before police led them away.
Last September, three supporters threw soup over two of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings at the ‘Poets and Lovers’ exhibition at the National Gallery just hours after fellow activists were jailed for doing the same thing to his famous Sunflowers masterpiece.
After covering the paintings in soup, the trio took off their jackets to reveal Just Stop Oil t-shirts and one said: ‘Future generations will regard these prisoners of conscience to be on the right side of history.’
Two supporters had previously glued themselves to the frame of The Hay Wain, an 1821 painting by English artist John Constable, at the National Gallery.
Last summer, five protesters were handed sentences for planning road-block protests on the M25.
In June, two activists threw orange paint at Stonehenge just before the summer solstice to the ire of the public.
They ran up to the stone circle and released clouds of paint against several of the huge stones just 24 hours before thousands flocked to the landmark to celebrate summer solstice.
At the time Keir Starmer condemned the stunt as ‘outrageous’.
‘The damage done to Stonehenge is outrageous. Just Stop Oil are pathetic. Those responsible must face the full force of the law,’ he wrote on X.
Rajan Naidu, 73, and Niamh Lynch, 21, ran up to the stone circle at around 12pm
Last summer, five protesters were handed sentences for planning road-block protests on the M25
Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak branded the group as a ‘disgrace’.
Last week, nine protesters were convicted after they were prevented by police from gluing themselves to the runways at Heathrow Airport.
Seven had been arrested after they were found with glue and angle grinders near the airport in July.
Earlier this week, an activist grandmother who was jailed for bringing the motorway to a standstill moaned about life on the inside.
Quaker and artist Gaie Delap, 78, who scaled the motorway gantry during a climate protest in November 2022, was recalled to prison last year because her wrists were too small for electronic tags.
Seven Just Stop Oil activists are currently serving prison sentences of up to four years ‘for doing everything they can to limit climate catastrophe,’ the group claims.
They said supporters have been arrested 3,300 times and imprisoned 180 times in three years and that 16 are due to be sentenced in the next few months.
The group originally claimed to have taken inspiration from the protest by UK lorry drivers in 2000, which ground petrol distribution to a halt.
Just Stop Oil is a coalition group, describing itself as non-hierarchical and has no single, recognised leader.
