Labour’s climate change chief Ed Miliband praised Extinction Rebellion for their ‘exciting’ activism
LABOUR’S climate change chief Ed Miliband praised Extinction Rebellion’s “exciting” activism and called for it to be “sustained”.
He hailed the law breakers’ work as a “fantastic success” and wants it “deepened”.
He was speaking in 2019, a year after XR launched its “rebellion” of direct action — blocking bridges, roads and Parliament.
By then cops had already arrested dozens of XR activists over their campaign of chaos.
Mr Miliband’s remarks, uncovered by The Sun on Sunday, have sparked demands for him to be sacked from Labour’s frontbench by Sir Keir Starmer.
In an alarming video, Ed says at a university debate in October 2019: “Why has Extinction Rebellion and the people’s climate strikes worked?
“It is essentially because they’ve shifted the Overton window — they have shifted the sense of what is possible.
“That has moved the debate. That’s a fantastic success.”
He added at the London School of Economics: “I think it is incredibly important it is sustained — and deepened.”
He said ministers should adopt a radical agenda over going green — with “an arms race when it comes to urgency and speed and scale”.
Mr Miliband is already under fire for demanding Labour spends £28billion a year on eco projects.
Tory MP Tom Hunt said: “First Labour vote against all laws to crack down on these eco extremists.
“Then we hear they are accepting donations from one of Just Stop Oil’s main backers. Now this.”
A Labour insider suggested Ed should go as “he is a liability”.
But Mr Miliband’s office pointed to his previous criticism of disruptive eco activists.
A Labour spokesman claimed he had merely been praising XR for handing out free tree saplings to MPs.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir will be in Scotland tomorrow to launch his new “green mission”.