The ‘chilling effect’ on climate protest as temperatures soar across the UK

Campaign groups have today warned that successive Government clampdowns have had a “chilling effect” on protest as the UK deals with the fifth heatwave of the summer and wildfires continue to rage across the country.

The human rights organisation Liberty argues that the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, the Public Order Act 2023, and the Crime and Policing Act 2026 have significantly curtailed the capacity of the climate movement to participate in protest and other forms of direct action.

The Acts include various new restrictions on protest and impose much harsher sentences for people that break these laws. For instance, people found to be in breach of the Public Order Act can also face unlimited fines.

In July 2024, five Just Stop Oil activists were sentenced to four to five years for conspiracy to cause a public nuisance under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, after discussing an M25 protest on Zoom. Following an appeal supported by Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace UK, the court found the sentences “manifestly excessive” and reduced them to between 2.5 and 4 years.

The most recent Home Office data published on the use of protest powers was published earlier this year. It found that since 2022 around 90% of the protests with police restrictions applied to them were ‘environment’ related. However, this dataset was criticised by the Network for Police Monitoring for avoiding ‘openness and transparency’ on the use of protest powers.

Liberty has also raised concerns that the Crime and Policing Act 2026 was pushed forward before the publication of Lord Macdonald’s Independent Review of Public Order and Hate Crime Legislation which was commissioned by Government and is expected to make key recommendations on reforming protest laws.

The campaigners argue that protest is critical to a healthy democracy and are urging the new Prime Minister to “change course” from previous governments.

A recent Ipsos poll from last week shows that 74% of Britons are concerned about climate change following a severe heatwave summer, up from 69 per cent before the summer.

Ruth Ehrlich, Director of External Relations at Liberty, said:  

“New restrictions, new offences and a raft of new penalties have given police immense powers to crack down on climate demonstrations and continue to have a chilling effect on protest.

“Taken together these have created an incredibly difficult environment for climate protesters who now face immense personal risks.

“Protest makes our democracy more resilient, our government more responsive and drives the political salience of critical issues like climate change.
“This year we’ve seen the Government push ahead with yet more anti-protest legislation before a major independent review was published. The new Prime Minister needs to change course from his predecessors and start treating our right to protest like the important part of British democracy and culture that it is.”

Reshima Sharma, Deputy Head of Politics at Greenpeace UK said: 

“Protest movements have secured many of the environmental protections we enjoy today. From the creation of our national parks to the ban on fracking in the UK, it was ordinary people coming together to make their voices heard who paved the way for change. But the government’s crackdown on protest puts the creation of new movements for climate and nature at risk – at the very same time that the impacts of the climate emergency are greater and closer to home than ever.”