PM accused of 'pathetic bullying' by environmental campaigner after NIMBY article

Keir Starmer has been accused of "pathetic bullying" by a Norfolk biology campaigner who was singled retired and ridiculed by the premier curate successful an nonfiction successful the Daily Mail. 

Sir Keir heaped scorn connected Andrew Boswell crossed the archetypal 5 paragraphs of an nonfiction successful the tabloid, headlined "We'll halt the time-wasting NIMBYs and zealots from holding the state to ransom".

Dr Boswell, a machine scientist, present brands himself an biology advisor and challenges roadworthy and different projects successful the courts which helium argues interruption environment, quality and situation laws.

Speaking to Sky News this afternoon, Dr Boswell said: "I deliberation it's disgraceful that helium called retired an idiosyncratic successful this way. And idiosyncratic who is not capable to support themselves easily.

"I deliberation it's a precise unsafe happening for the premier curate to do, and helium shouldn't person approached it this way."

Asked wherefore helium thought it was dangerous, Dr Boswell replied: "Well, helium has named me. I'm conscionable an mean person, a subordinate of the public. I spell astir my beingness connected that basis. I don't person a immense media squad to support me. I don't person different protections. It's a precise unsafe happening to bash to an individual."

Dr Boswell said, pursuing the attack, that Keir Starmer should recognize the authorities is failing to uphold its clime ambitions and that helium wants to sermon this with the PM.

"Keir Starmer ought to really conscionable me, and I'd similar to speech to him astir the clime exigency and the information that you can't conscionable disregard c emissions arsenic Rachel Reeves did yesterday astatine Davos. We can't bash that.

"And the elemental information of the substance is that the readying strategy successful this state does not unafraid the clime ambitions that the authorities has.

"So the crushed I went into the readying strategy and the ineligible strategy was to effort to enactment that up. Until that is shored up, radical are going to proceed taking ineligible actions against the authorities and authorities decisions which bash not support our clime ambitions."

In the Daily Mail remark piece, Sir Keir identifies Dr Boswell by describing his work, but does not sanction him.

The accompanying nonfiction successful the Mail does place him, however.

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In the article, Sir Keir writes: "A erstwhile Green Party councillor spent years trying to artifact captious information upgrades to the A47. The lawsuit reached the Supreme Court past year, which dismissed it for having 'no logical basis'.

"A apical justice adjacent said it had 'an aerial of implicit unreality'. So wherefore was helium capable to discarded years of the court's clip and squander tens of millions of pounds of payer money?

"There are countless much examples of NIMBYs and zealots gumming up the ineligible strategy often for their ain ideological unsighted spots to halt the authorities gathering the infrastructure the state needs.

"They cognize they person nary accidental of winning, they conscionable privation to resistance it retired successful anticipation that the authorities oregon manufacture springiness up. They privation to triumph for themselves, not for the country."

Asked whether the PM was close to constitute this, Dr Boswell told Sky News: "No, he's perfectly not, successful respective respects there.

"First of all, connected the court, erstwhile we went to the precocious court, the precocious tribunal justice really said that my lawsuit had helped item issues successful the mode biology interaction assessments were done.

"And connected the information issue, actually, what these roadworthy schemes are doing is spending £500m connected abbreviated stretches of roadworthy erstwhile there's overmuch much unsafe achromatic spots successful Norfolk.

"I've ever said we bash request to amended information connected the roads successful Norfolk, we request to people the achromatic spots, and not walk immense amounts of wealth digging roads, which doesn't really marque a large information improvement."

Sky News has contacted Number 10 for a response.