Greenpeace protestors bailed after protest at Rishi Sunak's home

On Thursday (August 3) morning the activists draped his home with “oil-black” cloth in protest against his new policy to “max out” the UK’s oil and gas supplies.

They then stayed on the roof of the £2m manor house near Northallerton for more than five hours and were arrested following the security breach.

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North Yorkshire Police have now released the protestors on bail pending further investigations.

The force said: “All five suspects who were arrested following the protest in Kirby Sigston on August 3 have been released on conditional police bail to allow for further inquiries to be carried out.

“The investigation remains ongoing.”

The protestors on the roof. (Image: NNP)

Assistant Chief Constable Elliot Foskett said: “There was no threat to the wider public throughout this incident, which has now been brought to a safe conclusion.”

But a former deputy chief constable from the force said it was a “major breach of security”, as he called for an “investigation into how this has been allowed to happen”.

North Yorkshire Police has also faced criticism from senior politicians over the breach.

The Prime Minister was not home at the time as he holidays with his family in California.

Protester Alex Wilson, who lives in Newcastle with her partner, who was also on the roof, released a video message from the scene of the protest, saying: “We’re all here because Rishi Sunak has opened the door to a new drilling frenzy in the North Sea while large parts of our world are literally on fire.

Police descended on the area around Sunak's home. (Image: NNP)

“This will be a disaster for the climate.”

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On Wednesday Rishi Sunak admitted during an LBC phone-in he is expecting his climate-conscious daughters to grill him on his plans to “max out” the UK’s oil and gas reserves.

The Prime Minister said he is confident he can win them over with his argument that the UK can reach net zero by 2050 while continuing to drill for fossil fuels.

His comments came as he was being questioned about his decision to grant more than 100 new licences for oil and gas extraction in the North Sea, for which he is facing a growing backlash for allegedly betraying climate pledges.

Asked how he has sold the move to his children, whom he has previously called the “experts” in his household on climate change, Mr Sunak said he has not yet spoken to them about it.

He said: “We are going to get to net zero, that’s my commitment. But even when we’re there, we will still need fossil fuels.”