Keir Starmer hits out at lawyers for refusing to prosecute disruptive climate ... trends now

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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has hit out at lawyers refusing to prosecute climate activists.

The former director of public prosecutions said he was committed to the ‘cab-rank rule’, where lawyers take on cases as they are assigned them rather than hand-picking clients.

It comes as more than 100 leading barristers signed a ‘declaration of conscience’, saying they will refuse to prosecute protesters from eco-groups such as Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion.

A spokesman for Sir Keir said: ‘As a KC and a former director of public prosecutions, Keir believes strongly in the cab-rank principle and the importance of barristers accepting the cases that come to them as a fundamental foundation of our justice system.

‘He has gone on the record as saying that we need laws to deal with protesters who cause serious disruption – and longer sentences for those who glue themselves to roads.’