Environmental protesters cost police forces more than ￡40 million in just a matter of months, Home Office figures showed on Wednesday as MPs said Britons were “fed up to the back teeth” of disruptive action.

       Priti Patel took aim at groups who “cause chaos and endanger lives” as she confirmed a new Public Order Bill announced in the Queen’s Speech would make it a criminal offence to attach yourself to other people, objects or buildings “to cause serious disruption and harm”.

       The Just Stop Oil group has cost police ￡5.9 million since it was founded in February, Home Office figures show.

       Forces spent more than ￡4 million policing Insulate Britain events between September and November 2021, and ￡37 million on Extinction Rebellion activity between April and October 2019.

       Speaking in the Commons, Ms Patel said: “Unlike some, we understand that freedom includes the freedom of the law-abiding majority to go about their business free from harm.

       “The dangerous nature of these protests should not be lost on anyone in this House, particularly when we saw the recent Just Stop Oil protests.

       “There are particular sites and oil refineries where these protesters imposed themselves and it is really just a miracle that somebody was not killed or injured through the tactics being used.”

       Essex Police spent ￡3.5 million on overtime when Just Stop Oil protesters stormed a terminal in Thurrock last month, Ms Patel added, while the force called on mutual aid from Scotland and Wales.

       Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, accused the Government of making a fresh crackdown on activists “their top priority” despite the existing Police, Crime, Nationality and Borders Bill.

       “They’re again failing to work with the police to sort out swift injunctions against serious disruptive protests, or to help the police sensibly use the powers they’ve got,” she said.

       Lee Anderson, the Conservative MP for Ashfield, urged bigger fines of up to ￡20,000 for those who “wreak havoc on our streets, on motorways [and] at petrol stations”.

       “Quite frankly the hardworking people of this country are fed up to the back teeth of these people disrupting their very ways of life and destroying our property time and time again.”

       Sammy Wilson, the DUP MP for East Antrim who was staying in Canning Town when two protestors clambered onto a Tube carriage in October 2019, recalled one affected commuter had told him: “If I don’t get to work today, I won’t get any wages, and yet those people on top of the Tube think that it doesn’t matter.”