PM’s fury at more UN meddling with envoy condemning ‘severe’ jail sentences for JSO protesters who caused gridlock after scaling QE2 Bridge

Rishi Sunak today slapped down a UN envoy who condemned ‘severe’ sentences for climate protesters who caused gridlock.

The PM said those responsible for disruption should feel the ‘full force’ of the law after the intervention by special rapporteur Ian Fry.

Mr Fry raised wrote to the government raising the cases of two Just Stop Oil activists who scaled the Dartford Crossing in October 2022.

Morgan Trowland, 40, and Marcus Decker, 34, were jailed for three years and two years and seven months respectively after using ropes and other climbing gear to scale the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, forcing police to close it to traffic.

The UN envoy ‘on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change’ complained that the sentences were ‘significantly more severe than previous sentences imposed for this type of offending in the past’, according to the BBC.

He voiced concerns about the ‘exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and association’.

UN envoy Ian Fry condemned ‘severe’ sentences for climate protesters who caused gridlock

The PM said those responsible for disruption should feel the ‘full force’ of the law after the intervention

Mr Fry raised wrote to the government raising the cases of two Just Stop Oil activists who scaled the Dartford Crossing in October 2022

But Mr Sunak shot back that it was ‘entirely right’ to hand ‘tough sentences’ to demonstrators who cause major disruption.

‘Those who break the law should feel the full force of it,’ he tweeted.

‘It’s entirely right that selfish protestors intent on causing misery to the hard-working majority face tough sentences.

‘It’s what the public expects and it’s what we’ve delivered.’

Last month, Trowland and Decker lost a bid to challenge their sentences at the Supreme Court, the UK’s highest court.

In July, the protesters lost an appeal over what their lawyers said were the ‘extraordinary length’ of their jail terms.

In their ruling, the judges acknowledged the ‘long and honourable tradition of civil disobedience on conscientious grounds’ and that the sentences handed to Trowland and Decker went ‘well beyond previous sentences imposed for this type of offending’.

But Lady Chief Justice Lady Carr said the jail terms were ‘not excessive’ and reflected ‘Parliament’s will’ under new laws enacted under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act last year.

The legislation introduced a new ‘fault-based public nuisance offence for what obviously will include non-violent protest behaviour, with a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment’, the appeal judges said.

Lady Carr said the sentences met the ‘legitimate’ aim of deterring others from such offending.

JSO activists protested against the sentences outside the Royal Courts of Justice earlier this year 

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said judges had the UK Government’s ‘full backing’ to use the new powers given to them by MPs to punish those carrying out disruptive protests.

The No 10 official said a report by Essex Police found a heavily pregnant woman ‘who needed urgent medical help’ was among those caught up in the disruption during the direct action on the crossing over the River Thames in south-east England.

Mr Sunak’s spokesman told reporters: ‘While it is not for us to comment on specific decisions of the court, it is entirely right that the courts… use the tough new powers that Parliament has granted and they have our full backing to do so.’

It is the latest in a line of clashes between the government and UN envoys.

Earlier this month Olivier De Schutter slammed universal credit payments of £85 a week for single adults over 25, describing the welfare system as a ‘leaking bucket’.

He said it was ‘simply not acceptable’ that a fifth of the population was ‘at risk of poverty’, saying the situation had become ‘worse’ since a similar warning from his predecessor five years ago.

But the PM’s spokesman dismissed the critique, saying evidence showed people were better off in full-time work than on handouts. 

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