Georgie Newson

When it was revealed earlier this month that the number of people who had reached the UK on small boats since Labour came to power in July 2024 had reached 50,000, the familiar circus of blame began. The Tories reproached Labour for scrapping the dismal Rwanda plan; Labour pointed to the legacy left by the Tories; Reform, as ever, reaped the spoils. But the tussle between the dominant parties over who can most bullishly ‘defend’ Britain’s borders is not only an ugly spectacle; it rests on a misguided premise.

The Public Order Act received royal assent on 2 May, just in time for the coronation. Its explicit aim is to combat the civil resistance tactics adopted by climate activists, with new offences including ‘locking on’, ‘being equipped for locking on’, ‘tunnelling’ and ‘obstruction etc of major transport works disruption’. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights criticised the legislation as ‘neither necessary nor proportionate’. Meanwhile, the government is processing the 115 bids for North Sea fossil fuel licences that have been made since applications were reopened at the end of last year. The amount of carbon dioxide produced by just one of the unexploited oil fields, Rosebank, will be greater than the combined annual emissions of the 28 lowest-income countries.