Two Norfolk lawmakers disagreed on protesters’ rights to stop tanker fuel. Protesters blocking a fuel wholesaler in Essex caused pumps to dry up in Norfolk this month. Now two Norfolk MPs – Clive Lewis of the Labor Party and George Freeman of the Tories – are at odds over the protest and whether it was acceptable. Mr Freeman, a Mid Norfolk MP, criticized the protesters in an interview with the BBC, calling them “incredibly selfish”. “People are having a hard time getting to work, they are struggling to leave their children in school, the everyday ordinary people who have just been able to move can not live if they can not get fuel.
Mid Norfolk MP George Freeman – Credits: Richard Townshend Photography My appeal to anyone who knows the Extinction Rebellion or the oil protesters is ‘stop it’, we already know there is a climate crisis and we need to get rid of fossil fuels. “But stopping the flow of fuel so that ordinary ordinary families and businesses can not function is a shame and must stop.” While Mr. Freeman said he welcomed the protest in the form of marches, he said that chaining yourself to tankers, vandalism and harassment was wrong, suggesting that these people run to become councilors or MPs. However, Mr Lewis, an MP from Norwich South, expressed solidarity with the protesters, but said it was not something he did lightly. Speaking on BBC radio, Mr Lewis said: “I understand the difficulty this can cause to many people, I have listened to George Freeman and the problem is that his government does not want to take us away from fossil fuels. “Now they are talking about opening up new oil fields, now they are talking about keeping the option of fracking open again in the UK.” Norwich South MP Clive Lewis – Contributor: Chris McAndrew Mr Lewis said the government was ignoring the latest scientific reports on climate change and that unless the economy was liberated from carbon, “there would be no future for humanity”. “This is a climate emergency,” he said. “It will not cause inconvenience, it will not just cause people to lose income, it will mean that there are food riots, it will mean that the end of civilization will happen. Probably in the lives of the people who listen now. ” The Labor MP has argued that the protest may be uncomfortable but it is still the right thing to do. Just Stop Oil protesters left police on Tuesday afternoon and the fuel began to return to the county.