Labour split by leadership call for action against climate crisis blockades

Plea by shadow justice secretary Steve Reed for nationwide bans on activists' tactics angers many on left of party

Labour faces an escalating internal row over the treatment of climate crisis protesters after a shadow cabinet minister backed calls for nationwide injunctions to stop them blocking critical roads and fuel supplies.

Steve Reed, the shadow justice secretary, called for immediate and wide-ranging bans on protesters' tactics to be put in place last week. Reed said ministers should get on with their jobs" and block further action from the Just Stop Oil group after about 40 arrests were made at Inter Terminals in Grays, Essex, last Monday. Others were arrested at Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire.