Five environmental protesters took part in an action by the Green New Deal Rising group at the event in Eastbourne, standing up one by one from the audience to shout out to the would-be prime minister: “Liz Truss, you should be ashamed of yourself.”
Live streaming of the protests on the Conservative Party website was briefly interrupted as protesters were cleared from the hall.
As the crowd chanted “Out! Out!” the foreign minister interrupted her speech to say: “I think we have some intruders and I will wait until they are expelled.”
And when she continued her speech, Ms Truss won applause from Tory campaigners by announcing that as prime minister she would “never, never, never allow our democracy to be disrupted by unfair protests”.
But protester Fatima Ibrahim – the first to stand and confront the foreign minister – said the group had disrupted the event because promises made by Ms Truss and her rival Rishi Sunak during the leadership campaign would make her problem climate change worse, instead of solving it.
Ms Ibrahim said: “This is a critical moment for our country. Our next prime minister should live up to what the majority want, which is good wages, safe jobs and a safe climate.
“But Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are clogging the airwaves with policies that will make things worse, not better.
“Energy bills are going to be over £3,000 a year and nothing they’ve announced will come close to putting that money back in people’s pockets. We disrupted the protests tonight to send a clear message that we are the majority and we are agitating.”
Speaking after the charges were dropped, the front-runner in the race to replace Boris Johnson won thunderous applause as she said: “I can say a few words about the campaigners who are trying to disrupt our country and who are trying to disrupt our democratic process and try to interrupt our core services;
Liz Truss addresses a Conservative leadership based in Eastbourne
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“I would legislate immediately to make sure we stand up to militant unions that stop ordinary commuters from getting to work. And I would legislate to protect our essential services.
“I will make sure that militant activists like the Exhaustion Rebellion are not able to upset ordinary people who work hard and do the right thing and go to work.
“And I will never, never, never allow our democracy to be disrupted by unjust protests.”
Later, another protester interrupted a question-and-answer session with Tory MPs by making a Green parody of Ms Truss.
The leadership candidate listened to her for a few moments before realizing she was once again the target of the protest, telling activists: “I just take it as a compliment that I’m so popular with Extinction Rebellion.”
Ms Truss insisted she was a supporter of free speech.
But he said: “What I think is wrong is when Extinction Rebellion activists stick to trains and disrupt commuters going about their business.
“I’m fine with peaceful protests, but the situation we had in Parliament Square, with a whole bunch of people camping in tents for weeks and weeks on end is not the same peaceful protest.
Liz Truss poses in front of the country’s largest Union Flag on the Isle of Wight
(Liz4Leader Campaign)
“I believe in the freedom to do whatever you want, as long as you don’t harm others. This is the fundamental idea for me.
“But I think we’ve reached a stage in our society where there’s deliberately disruptive activity that’s not just about peaceful protest, but trying to disrupt democracy, trying to disrupt people’s everyday lives. I think this is a problem.
“There is a balance to be struck, but one person’s freedom should not mean that other people suffer misery.”
Ms Ibrahim said: “Liz Truss is leading the polls and is likely to be the next prime minister, but she has nothing credible to say in response to the cost of living crisis and the climate crisis.
“The UK has just experienced a record heatwave and the energy giants are making billions in profits, while every day people are pushed further into poverty as prices soar and wages stagnate.
“As young people who fear for our future, we desperately need a Green New Deal and political leadership to face this moment of crisis and not this sideshow.”
