Man who heckled chancellor’s speech says security called him a ‘weasel’ --[Reported by Umva mag]

The protester who interrupted Rachel Reeves’ speech at the Labour conference earlier today has said he was called a ‘weasel’ by security while being bundled out.

In an interview with Metro.co.uk, the 24-year-old – who chose not to give his name – showed off marks on his neck and wrist which he said he received during the tussle.

He and a fellow member of campaign group Climate Resistance shouted slogans and unfurled a banner reading ‘Still backing polluters, still arming Israel – we voted for change’ shortly after the Chancellor began her speech.

Security guards quickly tackled the pair and forcefully led them out the room.

The heckler said: ‘The Labour Party wants to brand themselves as the party of change, and I think it’s really important to pose a counter-narrative to that.

‘Because there’s so many really important things that they’re not changing on: they’re selling arms to Israel during a genocide, they are continually rolling back on climate pledges while we’re in a climate emergency.’

Asked why he chose to protest at Reeves’ speech, he said: ‘I think it’s really important talking about the economics of the situation – Rachel Reeves is the Chancellor.

‘It seems to me that they’re still parroting the narrative that austerity or austerity-lite is the only way to resolve the economic crisis.’

He said his removal from the hall was ‘quite painful’ and he was held under arrest for around an hour before being dropped outside the conference area and told not to return.

Reeves confirmed thousands of children will get access to free breakfast clubs from April in her conference speech in Liverpool.

She attempted to carry on speaking as the heckler yelled ‘the economy is a mess’.

He also shouted about the sale of arms to Israel before he was removed from the hall.

‘This is a changed Labour Party, a Labour Party that represents working people, not a party of protest,’ Reeves said after he left.

The Chancellor told the party conference: ‘Why is it that the British people put their trust in us for the first time in five generations?

‘We left no stone unturned to show Labour is the party of economic responsibility and the party of working people. People looked at us, looked at me, and decided Labour could be trusted with their money.’

She said she would not ‘risk playing fast and loose with the public finances’, which she accused the previous Tory government of doing.

Sam Simons, spokesperson for Climate Resistance said: ‘Labour promised us change – instead we’re getting more of the same. The same pandering to the fossil fuel industry; the same arms licences that are fuelling a genocide in Gaza, and the same austerity that sees the poorest hit hardest.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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