CLIMATE activists who scaled a government building today have vowed to remain indefinitely until ministers “commit to defunding the dairy, meat and fishing industries.”

Four members of the Animal Rebellion group, an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, began climbing up the decorative structure on the outside of the Home Office in Westminster at around 6am. 

Wearing hard hats and attached by ropes, the activists say they intend to stay on the building, suspended from hammocks, until PM Boris Johnson pledges to stop subsidies to animal agriculture and urges world leaders at Cop26 next week to do the same. 

In a message to world leaders ahead of the summit in Glasgow, the four unfurled a giant yellow banner reading: “COP: Invest in a plant-based future.” 

The building on Marsham Street also houses the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Police urged the protesters to descend on Tuesday morning as they were preventing government workers entering the offices. 

Animal Rebellion spokesperson Nathan McGovern said: “The UK government is simultaneously saying that it is a world leader in tackling climate change while propping up the unsustainable and unprofitable meat and dairy industry, one that emits disproportionate amounts of greenhouse gases. 

“This hypocrisy has to end — we need to defund meat and subsidise plant-based alternatives instead.”

The Metropolitan Police said it was acting as quickly as possible to remove protesters “in the safest way,” but by Tuesday afternoon, no arrests had been made. 

The fire brigade and ambulance service were also at the scene.