Greed with a halo.
The millionaire backer of Just Stop Oil has denied any wrongdoing after it has emerged that he is the founder and CEO of renewable power company Ecotricity and stands to make billions if the government do 'just stop oil'.
Dale Vince, already a millionaire, hopes to force the government into banning fossil fuels by repeatedly bringing London to a standstill. Cheap fossil fuels are seen by Vince as an obstacle to his company's growth and is reportedly attempting to influence the Government by funding what some describe as 'cynical guerrilla marketing'.
Ecotricity is a British energy company based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, specialising in renewable energy primarily generated from wind turbines. Currently the company's market share is tiny with less than 0.1% of the total. Bankrolling Just Stop Oil, who have repeatedly brought London to a halt, is a way of applying pressure on the Government to ban Vince's competition. Though not strictly illegal, it could be seen as unduly influencing the market for financial gain.
Vince has already come under fire for attempting to buy influence from the possible next prime minister Keir Starmer; giving him over a million pounds in the last eight years alone.
"Dale Vince is a perfectly legitimate person to take money from and his donations to Just Stop Oil do not change Labour’s opposition to the climate activist group’s actions", the shadow international trade secretary has said. Nick Thomas-Symonds said his party has been “extremely clear on our views on Just Stop Oil” and that Mr Vince is perfectly entitled to “give money to other causes”.
Attempting to bully the government into wiping out the competition of cheap coal and gas by repeatedly bringing London to a halt has been described as 'holding the government to ransom' but has been dismissed by climate activists as ' untrue' , however what is not in dispute is it costing the UK economy millions whilst edging Dale Vince closer to his of increased wealth. Greed with a halo is still greed.