SCIENTISTS who quit working for the government after feeling they had “no opportunity to make real change” have now turned to climate campaigning to demand action. 

In a protest on Friday morning, former employees and advisers for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), pasted posters on the department’s windows.

The group said the posters were aimed at highlighting the government’s “failure to deliver” on its promises to address the “dramatic” decline in species and natural habitats. 

One of the activists, Dr Laura Thomas-Walters, a conservation social scientist, said: “I left my job as a senior analyst at Defra this year because I felt I had no opportunity to make real change. 

“I worked with wonderful colleagues, smart scientists, but we were stymied by a lack of ministerial support.

“Civil servants are there to serve at the discretion of their ministers, and without buy-in from the government we couldn’t work on vital issues.”

The group, who are members of Extinction Rebellion, said that the action was not directed at Defra staff, who are “doing a crucial job in difficult conditions,” but ministers who they argue are stopping scientists from doing their jobs.