'We deserve better': Greenpeace activist stages protest onboard Tory battle bus
A Greenpeace activist has said she staged a protest onboard the Tory election battle bus because the British public "deserve better on climate and nature".
Amy Rugg-Easey clambered onto the coach using a ladder while it was parked in Nottinghamshire, on Wednesday, for a planned visit by Home Secretary James Cleverly.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was not on the bus when the stunt took place.
Ms Rugg-Easey unfurled a banner reading "clean power not Paddy Power", in reference to the election date betting scandal, and stayed on the roof for 12 minutes.
She told reporters, who had been travelling on the bus, that the Conservative Party are the "worst out of all the parties" at addressing issues around climate and nature.
In a statement, Ms Rugg-Easey accused the prime minister of "ditching key pledges and promising to 'max out' the climate-wrecking oil and gas that are the cause of the cost-of-living crisis and our unaffordable bills".
She said: "We've climbed on to Sunak's battle bus today to remind the British public that it is the Conservative government's consistent failure to deliver greener, fairer policies that has created the mess we're in.
"Don't back the wrong horse - a vote for the climate is a vote for a better future."
A Nottinghamshire Police vehicle and two officers appeared at the site of the campaign visit after the Greenpeace protesters and the Tory bus had left.
A Greenpeace spokesman defended the protest as "legitimate and important", when asked whether sending a young woman onto the roof of the campaign bus was the right way to make the point.
He told broadcasters: "I think it's an important way to make our point.
"We've only been there for a few minutes. We've come down, we don't want to mess with the companies who organised the event. We're very respectful of that.
"But in an election where the debate is so sort of poor and weak, and there's so many lies and untruths about both the economy and climate, we think it's legitimate and important to make our point, and in whatever way we can."
On Tuesday, four men were arrested by North Yorkshire Police at Sunak's home in the county on suspicion of aggravated trespass.
The force has since confirmed that all four men have been released on bail, while an investigation "remains ongoing".
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