Brighton lockdown protester claims to have 'better excuse' than PM

Louise Creffield, who is supposed to pay £10 every fortnight for almost 80 years, slammed Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak after they were slapped with fines over Partygate.

The 35-year-old said she is being punished for “exercising a democratic right” while the PM and Chancellor Rishi Sunak received little more than a slap on the wrist for having “birthday cake” in the Cabinet Office.

She was outraged as news emerged that the pair, along with the PM's wife Carrie, only have to pay £50 each - a fraction of what she currently has to pay over the coming decades.

Louise Creffield was fined more than £20,000 for anti-lockdown protests in May and June 2021

The mother-of-four said: “The whole thing is ludicrous. What they did is worse, they were doing it for private entertainment. We were exercising a democratic right to protest and speaking up for vulnerable people dying during lockdown.

“We were sticking up for human rights, so I would say that is a more reasonable excuse to gather than having a meet-up, drink and birthday cake in public offices.

“We had a good reason to be out, they did not. It’s just ludicrous.”

PM Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak at Fourpure Brewery in London October 2021

Creffield has faced eight charges in total for organising protests during the last two years.

Last Tuesday, she had two charges dropped due to "insufficient evidence" at Brighton Magistrates’ Court for protests she organised in Brighton in November and December 2020.

Creffield said she will be appealing the fine at Crown Court in June and described charges against her as “ludicrous” and a “waste of time”.

Now she wants to know details behind the fine given to the PM and Chancellor for holding a gathering at Downing Street.

Both had to cough up £50, down from £100, because it was paid within a 14-day period.

The fines were in connection with a birthday gathering in the Cabinet Office of Downing Street in June 2020.

The PM and Chancellor have since faced calls to resign.

The Metropolitan Police is looking into 12 parties overall and has already issued more than 50 fines, with more expected to come.

Louise Creffield on Hove seafront. Picture from Sam Gruet

Creffield was found guilty on two counts of holding a gathering of more than 50 people on May 29 and June 26 last year.

At the time, the country was under level three lockdown restrictions, which meant no more than 30 people could meet at once.

Creffield, who is founder of a group called Save Our Rights UK, was found to have held gatherings in Hyde Park and Parliament Square in May, before returning for a different protest in Parliament Square in June 2021.

She was fined £10,000 for each offence, and ordered to pay a surcharge of £190 and costs of £500 to the Crown Prosecution Service.

In total, she has been ordered to pay £20,690.