A CLIMATE activist has skipped her High Court hearing to take part in a protest outside Kingsbury Oil terminal in Warwickshire.

Margaret Reid, 51, from South Lakes, joined ten other activists from Just Stop Oil at the protest and were expecting to be arrested after telling police there was a warrant out for their arrest.

It is expected that they will be jailed for their action.

Supporters of the Just Stop Oil coalition are demanding that the Government stops issuing new oil and gas licenses.

The demand is a response to the warning last year from the International Energy Agency, which said: "If governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal, from now – from this year."

The Government is planning to issue more than 40 new licenses for North Sea oil and gas later this year.

Margaret said: "I don’t want to go to jail, and I don’t want to lose my house.

“I’d rather be anywhere than here - at home working or doing something constructive in my local community, but I don’t have a choice.

“My conscience simply cannot let me stand by while the Government, whose job it is to safeguard us, is squandering what little time we have to secure a liveable future.

“I won’t stop until the government stops issuing new oil and gas licences.”

Two other Kendal women, Catherine Rennie-Nash, 72, and Gwen Harrison, 44, also appeared before the High Court on Wednesday and their case was adjourned for sentencing until next Tuesday.

The three women were called to appear at the High Court, being heard in Birmingham, for the third time in a week, having repeatedly and deliberately defied a High Court injunction which prohibits all forms of protest at the Kingsbury Oil Terminal.

They face jail terms of up to two years, seizure of assets and unlimited fines.

 Catherine Rennie-Nash, a grandmother said: “We have been told by the government's chief scientific advisor that we have three to four years to act on the climate crisis or we effectively lock-in human extinction.

“That terrifies me beyond words and is moral and economic madness.

“My conscience will not allow me to stand by and watch while my grandchildren's future and the future of all their generation and beyond is stolen from them.

“That is why I’m risking prison and enormous fines and why I will be in civil resistance until the Government stops ploughing ahead with new fossil fuel projects”.

Gwen Harrison said: “The UN has explicitly said that ‘any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future’ and that ‘the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels.

“That includes the UK. Our government is taking us towards an unliveable future, so what choice do I have but to block oil terminals to stop deadly fossil fuels?

“We’ll continue fighting for a liveable future even if it means losing our homes and our liberty.

“The only question I have is where is everyone else? Where are the people who understand the science, who know what’s coming down the line, but who nevertheless still cheer us on from the side-lines?

“Please, we need you with us at the oil terminal gates – come and join us.”

 Since April 1, activists have been repeatedly blocking oil terminals in the Midlands and South of England, causing major disruption and fuel shortages.

Hundreds of activists have been arrested since the protests began.

   The Just Stop Oil Coalition have vowed to continue their actions until the government agrees to cancel the 43 new oil and gas licences it is issuing for the North Sea.