‘Shocking use of public money that could easily have been used for something better’
Policing the highly controversial Insulate Britain protests has cost Scotland Yard nearly £2m in the group’s first four weeks of activity alone.
Figures obtained by LBC show that between the September 13 and October 10, Insulate Britain protests cost the police £1,961,616.44 to manage and contain.
The cost of deploying vehicles was a further £22,000 and the overtime bill for officers on-site totalled more than £217,000. LBC also found that on average, each protest costs £200,000 to police.
Insulate Britain activists have glued themselves to parliament square (blocking a route to St Thomas hospital) pic.twitter.com/X69fzeasak
— Benjamin Butterworth (@benjaminbutter) November 4, 2021
It’s a “shocking use of public money that could easily have been used for something better,” said Andy Trotter, former Deputy Assistant Commissioner at the Metropolitan Police and former Chief Constable of the British Transport Police.
He continued: “That’s the thing that really galls me most of all, it’s the loss of officers from doing what they should be doing, rather than sitting out waiting for a demonstration that might occur.
“It doesn’t surprise me that the detection rate for crime is so low because police officers are not getting on with investigating crime, let alone the huge amount of calls they have to go to.”
🇬🇧INSULATE BRITAIN AT WESTMINSTER
62 people have blocked three roads around Parliament Square in Westminster this morning.
2 groups of people are sitting in the road with banners on Parliament square near the Peers’ entrance to the Houses of Parliament and on Bridge street. pic.twitter.com/2UN5yURIw1
— Insulate Britain (@InsulateLove) November 4, 2021
This comes as court documents last week said that the first three days of Insulate Britain protests had a cost of almost £900,000.
“The estimated, lower bound, costs of these protests on drivers are substantial, with the lowest still causing £20,124 in loss and the most impactful, so far, costing an estimated £324,107,” argued Saira Kabir Sheikh QC.
“This does not account for any costs associated with missed appointments, disruption to manufacturing or retail, missed transportation slots at airports or ports, or the direct cost to police or National Highways of managing the incidents.”
Related links:
- Insulate Britain protester says ‘she’ll cry’ if anyone dies as a result of M25 action today
- All seven remaining countries on the red list will be removed from Monday
- Insulate Britain members have ink thrown on faces amid motorway protests
