Activist dressed as Queen ‘turns off oil tap’ in COP26 protest

Activists campaigning against the Cambo oil field have staged a mock ceremony featuring “the Queen” turning off the taps to the oil pipeline.

The demonstration on Glasgow’s Buchanan Street comes on the anniversary of the Queen inaugurating the flow of North Sea oil in 1975.

It is the first of several protests in Glasgow on Wednesday, as the COP26 summit discusses the financial system.

Friends of the Earth Scotland, along with the campaign groups Platform and Stop Cambo, staged the event on Wednesday morning.

An activist dressed as the Queen descended the steps at the top of Buchanan Street before reading a speech and turning off a large prop tap.

Caroline Rance of Friends of the Earth Scotland said: “It has been 46 years since the Queen turned on the tap: it is high time we turned it off and stopped the continual flow of oil and gas.

“If we want a liveable climate, scientists are telling us there can be no fossil fuel developments – oil and gas, as well as coal – from now on.

“Boris Johnson, as host of these climate talks, must demonstrate what real climate action looks like.”

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said an environmental review of the Cambo field in the North Sea should be carried out before extraction begins.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has backed the new oil field, saying Cambo is “priced in” to the UK Government’s plans to reduce emissions.

Rosemary Harris, of Platform, said there should be no new investment in oil and gas.

She told the PA news agency: “Any new oil and gas production is continuing to support a declining industry.

“There’s a lot of talk about it being important for jobs, but they should be creating pathways for workers outside oil and gas.”