I’m a little puzzled by Nottinghamshire Police approaching the Home Office to contribute to the £600,000 cost of the weekend’s Climate Camp demonstration at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station.

Protestors and police at Ratcliffe-on-Soar. Photo:BBC

Yes, this was a ‘public order’ issue and yes, the police were protecting vital energy supplies but they were also protecting the premises of a private company – E-on – so why aren’t they going to them for a contribution to the cost of policing?

E-on went to the trouble of getting a high court injunction which allowed the police to arrest anyone who tried to enter the site, so why not follow this logic through and pay for the policing that was necessary for the injunction to be carried out.

The government and the Environment Agency claim to operate a system where ‘the polluter pays’ and, although no-one is suggesting that E-on has actually broken the law, it is clear that this power station does produce unacceptable carbon emissions (hence the demonstration) so it seems reasonable that E-on should make a substantial contribution to the costs of the police protecting their production and their profits.