The Institute of Economic Affairs has hit back at “infantile” Extinction Rebellion-linked activists who poured fake oil over the front of its London headquarters.
The controversial think tank claimed XR’s opposition to its lobbying to deregulate planning had “contributed to making the UK’s low-carbon transition slower and more expensive”.
During the demonstration on Monday a handful of Writers Rebel protesters stuck posters on the walls of the Lord North Street headquarters of the IEA, while activist and author Toby Litt poured dark liquid in front of it.
After the action, the group – which is linked to XR – said it chose the IEA because its work was “encouraging those politicians and fossil fuel companies who are right now leading us to a cliff edge”.
It added: “Its members display a misplaced faith in the continued pursuit of economic growth, whatever the cost to our fragile planet.”
IEA chief operating officer Andy Mayer said: “XR’s oddball protesters threw black paint at a black door. Our team cleaned it up.
“We then got back to work, which currently includes highlighting how fewer planning regulations could support faster deployment of solar, wind and nuclear energy, funded in part by taxing the UK’s fossil fuel wealth, rather than putting up bills.”
He added: “XR’s opposition to such ideas has contributed to making the UK’s low-carbon transition slower and more expensive. Higher taxes meanwhile increase the risk of making us poorer and colder.”
Litt was arrested during the protest, prompting Mayer to add: “Their infantile vandalism merely discredits them further and we will support their prosecution for criminal damage.”
The IEA, which gained notoriety in 2012 with its report on how state funding for charities was creating ‘sock puppets’, has been at the centre of controversies down the years.
In 2018, it was ordered by the Charity Commission to take down a report on post-Brexit Britain because it was “not sufficiently balanced”. The decision was overturned in September 2019.
In 2016, it was revealed that then-cabinet office minister Matt Hancock accepted a £4,000 donation from the chair of the IEA three months before announcing a policy forbidding charities from using grant funding from public sources to lobby the government.