Fuel protests in the UK - good thing or not

[Janespade]

there are successful fuel protests in Ireland and other countries are also having fuel protests in Europe.
They will come to the UK soon - 2001 style so you won’t be able to buy any fuel.
Are these protests the best way of tacking the vast amount of tax paid on fuel?
Or do you see them as blockades as the Irish authorities have called them.
Is it ok for ordinary people to lose jobs as they can’t get to work? What about people going for cancer treatment who have to drive in daily?
In 2001 school buses stopped running in some places so we could see schools shut, teachers stuck at home and health care staff without fuel to get to work. It’s not as if the majority can rely on public transport.
Maybe exams won’t run this year and we’ll all have to WFH and that could be a positive unless you have a trade?
is the disruption to a few lives worth it as everyone will benefit it fuel tax comes down?

Think I'd be more upset about those two being on my tv screen again than I would about the fuel!

Unless the price has dropped, the whole thing failed. Shouting and protesting might cause chaos - but often achieves nothing. 🤷‍♀️

Op they don’t have mass support- I work on a checkout and everyone I talk to says something has to be done but I’m not sure this is the right thing. People are very worried, I’ve talked to numerous carers who were late for or missed appointments and people who had to cancel hospital appointments because they couldn’t consider driving hours to a hospital because of pain.

Oh god

Gonna have to buy a full tank tomorrow then 🥺

I guess if the government lowered fuel tax they would have to cut funding something else which will also have implications.

I’ve seen the dates for the England ones posted online shred by a farmer.

Wait and see if people actually take part I guess.

I don’t expect our government to do anything though. Reeves needs all the pennies from the tax on it so she won’t shave any off.

People will just cut back and tank the economy a bit more by spending less elsewhere.

When are these due to happen if they do?

@justfuckoffhun Sorry so old I must have dementia it was 2000 as I can now remember where I was living back then.

Ive family in Eire whose lives are being massively disrupted - one has cancer and is missing treatment. So it’s not research driven per se.

But I did look into whether this will come to the UK as a dependent also has cancer (shit year for me). And I found plenty of people and posts with dates and times to start the protests. This wouldn’t be the first time a protest hasn’t got off the ground. But I came here to ask people’s views on it?

would you support a protest in the UK?

I’m Irish here and not really sure what yo think has been successful about their blockades because that’s exactly what they were. Yes they were disruptive but could have been dismantled at any time by the governance as they successfully were last night and early hours of this morning. The government gave them the opportunity to do this themselves but when they chose not to they ultimately stepped. I wholeheartedly support the right to peaceful protest but this was organised was organised not just to inconvenience but completely disrupt a country which is wrong and the whole thing has been taken up by a far right rhetoric who are jumping on the bandwagon and lumping in along with immigrants and the like.

I’ll probably sound like a snob but couldn’t give a shit. It’s quite clear to see the people supporting vs the people against. And it’s the ones who don’t have to worry about getting to work in the morning who are the most vocal supporters. Most reasonable not racist shits think it’s a disgrace

Taking of JSO didn’t the last government introduce a law because of them that prevents blockading or preventing people from going about their daily life? If that’s still in place then I assume the government could just use it in the same way they subdued the riots in 2024

Assuming they have cleared out the prisons a bit.

@Aliflowers successful in so much as they wanted to cause as much disruption as possible.

Your whole premise is nonsense. The Irish protests did not achieve anything. "They brought the issue to the forefront" Do you think people aren't aware of the cost of fuel? And now that they are over, what's going to happen that wouldn't have happened anyway? Nothing. The Irish government had already reduced excise duty and increased the rebate for those who were protesting. There are more cuts coming, but they were DELAYED because of the protests, not sped up.

Nothing was achieved by those protesting, nothing. And it was sickening to see them jumped on by the far right lunatics as usual.

Causing disruption was not the aim. The aim was to cause disruption AND GET FUEL PRICES REDUCED. Which did not happen. The protests were a failure and you are wilfully ignoring that fact.

This will be so annoying, how are people supposed to get to the hospital etc if needed? All this type of protest will do is hurt innocent people. Probably just so Mr F and TR can grandstand with more of their usual nonsense.

This is what causes shortages. Panic buying like toilet rolls in Covid.

Actually I’m not. As I said above success depends on aims and objectives and is a high subjective concept.
There is a significant online community who perceive there has been “success” hence wanting to bring the protests to the UK.

my premise was to understand what people thought about this?

Picking holes in my admittedly poor terminology doesn’t detract from you ignoring the questions posed? what would you think if similar protests happened in the UK as have been happening in Eire?

As I’ve said I disagree with blockades and anything that puts people at risk. And then there is the fact the far right are using this for their own ends.

If they try this crap here, I hope the government steps in quickly and arrests the lot of them.

there are successful fuel protests in Ireland and other countries are also having fuel protests in Europe.

How are they successful?

There is a significant online community who perceive there has been “success” hence wanting to bring the protests to the UK.

I very much question the significance of that online community.

@ColdAsAWitches Agreed. I have assumed however, if there were enough people willing and able to cause disruption in Eire then there are likely to be a similar percentage in the UK. It’s been done before -2000 as someone pointed out. Is there any reason why it’s not going to happen again?

Despite having concern for the environment the majority of the UK population were inconvenienced, irritated and not supportive of the actions of movements such as Just Stop Oil

I'd be surprised if many people would support a fuel protest, apart from those who have a political agenda

I don't think many of us will welcome tractors in Westminster or any other such nonsense

It's been mentioned already up-thread but it was definitely in 2000 when people couldn't top up for weeks.

I remember because my start date for a new job got pushed back from September to October 2000 due to the travel restrictions. It also messed up my relocation plans with the new job location being 85-90 miles away.

Absolutely this!

Something has to be cut elsewhere if taxes are reduced…

This

The new Public Order Act that came in in 2023 (that the The Mail etc were delighted about), focussed on behaviour such as this .. mainly aimed at JSO and Extinction Rebellion. These laws are stronger in England & Wales, than in Ireland. If you block a road here, you can go to Prison for 5 years .. like some JSO people have done.

I’m guessing the right-wingers that now want to block the roads, are the same right-wingers celebrating when JSO were arrested for doing the same.

Instead of blocking roads I wish they would spend some time maintaining all those flags they have put up .. right tatty mess.