Donations for Just Stop Oil Backer Dale Vince Are ‘Perfectly Legitimate,’ Says Labour

A group of environmental campaigners from the Just Stop Oil group block traffic as they take part in a slow procession around Parliament Square in London on May 31, 2023. Leon Neal/Getty Images

Britain’s Labour Party has defended the decision to accept donations from the backer of Just Stop Oil, arguing that it doesn’t affect the party’s views on the activist group.

Shadow international trade secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said Labour had been “extremely clear on our views on Just Stop Oil,” a group that is campaigning to halt new licences for the exploration of oil and other fossil fuels in the UK.

Green energy entrepreneur Dale Vince is “a perfectly legitimate person to take money from,” Thomas-Symonds told BBC Radio 4’s ”Today“ programme.

“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,” he added.

Just Stop Oil activists have staged a number of protests in the UK, including blocking roads, disrupting sporting events, and most recently disrupting a rugby match and throwing paint over a Chelsea Flower Show garden.

Thomas-Symonds called the group’s actions “entirely counterproductive,” saying that the “only debate it’s provoking is about our public order laws.”

However, he reiterated that Labour’s views on the group remained unaffected by the donations the party receives from Vince.

Founder of green energy company Ecotricity, Vince has made several large donations to Labour, as well as its leader Sir Keir Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner.

Dale Vince, owner of Forest Green Rovers celebrates after their side's victory and promotion as League 2 champions during the Sky Bet League Two match between Mansfield Town and Forest Green Rovers at One Call Stadium in Mansfield, England, on May 7, 2022. Matthew Lewis/Getty Images

‘Vital Funds’

In light of the most recent protests by Just Stop Oil’s activists, the Chair of the Conservative Party Greg Hands called on Labour to return Vince’s donations.

“I am concerned about the influence of this money given the Labour Party’s decision to vote against tougher measures to stop disruption via the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act. I note that the Labour Party have already caved in to demands by the group and announced a halt to new oil, gas, and coal projects,” Hands wrote in a letter to Labour Party Chair Anneliese Dodds.

Next month Labour is set to announce plans to block all new North Sea oil and gas developments as part of the party’s net zero energy policy, as reported by The Times of London.

Former Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg also argued that Labour “should not take money from people who disrupt the lives of the majority of British people going lawfully about their business.” He told the Daily Mail that by taking donations from Vince, “it shows who Labour’s paymasters are—they are fanatics who want us to be cold and poor.”

In response to the call by the Conservatives, Vince said that all his donations are transparent.

“As for calls for Labour to return my donations, there is no moral or legal basis for this, it’s naked politics. All of my businesses are based in & pay tax in the UK can Rees Mogg says the same thing? No, he should look closer to home for things to be morally outraged about,” Vince said in a Twitter post.

On Wednesday, the entrepreneur pledged to double the amount of donations made to Just Stop Oil in the next 48 hours.

“There is no better time to make a financial contribution,” Vince said, adding that he was “proud to donate vital funds to the cause.”

Ten Just Stop Oil activists were arrested in Parliament Square on Wednesday for failing to move out of the road in line with police orders. They were slow marching with around 56 others to demand an end to new oil and gas licences.