A speech by Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has been disrupted by environmental protesters.

Climate activists from the  group claimed responsibility for the disruption to Mr Starmer’s speech on education reform as he was heckled at MidKent College in Gillingham, Kent.

While Sir Keir was speaking, protesters on the stage interrupted him by demanding that he “reinstate your pledge for £28bn” green prosperity plan.

The Opposition Leader told the pair he would “speak to you after” as they accused him of a U-turn on his proposal before being led off stage by security.

“Young people want action,” one protester said. “We need a green new deal right now.”

Once they were escorted off stage, the Labour leader told the audience: “I think they may have missed the fact that the last mission I launched was on clean power by 2030 which is the single most effective way to get the green future that they and many others want.”

According to Green New Deal Rising, one of the protesters was student Dieudonne Bila, who said in a statement: “I disrupted Keir Starmer’s speech because I desperately want to see a future government committed to protecting people here and all over the world from the climate crisis.”

“We won’t stand by and allow private companies to continue making billions as heating becomes unaffordable, or be silent in the face of extreme heat, flooding and droughts.”

As the protesters disrupted Sir Keir’s speech, he told them: “I think you may have missed my last mission was on clean energy”.

There was applause as the Labour leader spoke with the pair and later when they were taken off stage.

Following the disruption, Sir Keir condemned other protests by Just Stop Oil as “arrogant”.

He told reporters: “I just think they need to just stop. Particularly this last week, they’ve been interrupting iconic sporting events, causing massive disruption.

“There’s a huge arrogance involved, that they’re the only people that understand the argument, that their tactics are going to win.”