Labour donor Dale Vince: ‘I do want to influence policy but not by buying access’

Ecotricity founder and Just Stop Oil supporter hits back at Tory attacks as Rishi Sunak claims ‘eco-zealots’ steering Keir Starmer

Dale Vince has been condemned in the rightwing press as a hippy turned eco-tycoon who donates thousands of pounds to Just Stop Oil – and even more to the Labour party. And now Rishi Sunak has doubled down on the attacks and claimed that it appears that “eco-zealots” at the campaigning group are writing Labour’s energy policy and “essentially leading us into an energy surrender”.

Speaking before the prime minister’s comments, Vince, the founder of Ecotricity, told the Guardian that the “abuse, mudslinging and massive fabrications” he had faced would not stop him bankrolling causes close to his heart.