JSO’s tactics ‘pathetic’, Rachel Reeves says after Osborne wedding stunt

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abour’s Rachel Reeves has hit out at Just Stop Oil’s tactics as “pathetic”, after Tory former chancellor George Osborne was targeted with orange confetti at his wedding.

Mr Osborne and his wife Thea Rogers were strewn with the confetti by a woman following their marriage ceremony in Somerset on Saturday.

Just Stop Oil (JSO) celebrated the stunt but said the woman who threw the orange confetti was not a member of the group.

When asked about the group’s tactics which have most recently included disruptions at Wimbledon and the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, shadow chancellor Ms Reeves told the Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme on Sky News: “I have got no time for Just Stop Oil.

“To be honest, I think it is a bit pathetic and quite tedious disrupting tennis, snooker, other people’s weddings.

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“If they want to tackle climate change, engage in the policy answers, but they are not building support for their cause, they are doing the exact opposite.

“So it is counter-productive and it is rude frankly.

“People paid to go to Wimbledon, it may be the one time in their life that they get to Wimbledon, they don’t want to be disrupted by a load of protesters.”

While Just Stop Oil said it was not responsible for the demonstration, the group welcomed the stunt on Twitter, sharing a video and claiming the ex-chancellor looked “good in orange”.

Just Stop Oil spokesperson James Skeet confirmed the woman who threw the confetti was not a member of the group.

He told the PA news agency: “Unfortunately, we can’t claim credit for the orange confetti on this one, but we wish the happy couple well.”

Mr Skeet added: “I neither condemn nor praise it. I don’t know who that lady is.”

Unfortunately, we can’t claim credit for the orange confetti on this one, but we wish the happy couple well

Asked whether the group welcomed outside protesters taking similar action to Just Stop Oil, the spokesman told PA: “As a policy, Just Stop Oil is always accountable for our actions. You will know it is us because we will admit to it.

“The fact that we were vague last night implies that it wasn’t really us.

“If orange confetti is the symbol of the revolution then so be it, but obviously you can always guarantee that we will be accountable for any actions that we undertake.”

Around 200 people, including a string of well-known politicians and journalists, attended Mr Osborne’s wedding on Saturday amid a mystery over an email apparently sent to guests.

Among the guests were former prime minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha, former chancellor Sajid Javid and Levelling-Up Secretary Michael Gove.

Treasury minister Victoria Atkins also condemned the interruption to Mr Osborne’s wedding.

The minister told Sky News: “This is a couple, clearly in love, on their wedding day and somebody has apparently taken the opportunity to throw some orange dust around.”

She added: “I don’t understand why an organisation would want to stop other people from having fun and enjoyment.

“They achieve nothing other than making people feel upset when they are missing out on the sporting event that they have been looking forward to for a very long time, or indeed their own wedding.”

The SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, meanwhile, said he was “a little bit troubled by some of their practices”, adding: “I don’t see how it carries public support.”

However, he said some of the outrage about Just Stop Oil was “a little bit far-fetched”.

The Aberdeen South MP said: “I mean, the confetti yesterday – was anyone hurt in that regard? And when you juxtapose that with the storms in Zaragoza in Spain, I think we can see which one has caused the most damage here.”

He added: “It is very unfortunate and I would probably be a little bit upset about it as well, but I would probably take four steps and take the confetti off me.”