After high profile stunts involving paint and soup, Just Stop Oil protesters are back to the tried and tested campaign method of causing chaos on the M25 this morning.

But what do the group want?

Having thrown soup at Van Gogh's Sunflowers, sprayed paint on an Aston Martin showroom, and brought the M25 to halt by scaling the suspension cables of the QEII Bridge - all in the space of a few days - it might seem like the ambition is to anger as many people as possible.

And while that may be true, the group are doing it to highlight issues they think should be causing even more widespread anger.

Their message is on the surface pretty simple, and to quote the manufacturers of a popular woodstain, the campaign group is out to do exactly what it says on the tin. They want to stop the extraction and use of oil, along with of all other fossil fuels, in the UK.

Having launched in February 14 this year, the group held a series of disruptions at oil terminals across England in the following April, before embarking on a series of controversial protests, culminating in the staged vandalism of the last few days.

A statement on the Just Stop Oil condenses the group's ambition to a basic "demand" - "That the UK government makes a statement that it will immediately halt all future licensing and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK."

They add: "Why: It’s the very first step to ensuring our survival. We already have more oil and gas than we can afford to burn. Let’s get on with ending our reliance on fossil fuels completely: by powering ahead with renewables and cutting energy demand; by insulating Britain and rethinking how we travel; and by ensuring that no-one is left behind and everyone’s voice is heard.

"Mobilisation: We are a rapidly growing movement, holding 20-30 public meetings per week, online and in person, across the UK. There is a role for everyone."

A more in depth statement on the website adds that the extraction of oil and gas in the UK is an "obscene and genocidal policy that will kill our children and condemn humanity to oblivion. It just has to stop."

They add: "If we continue down our current path it will destroy families and communities. We will face the starvation and the slaughter of billions of the poor – and the utter betrayal of our children and their future.

"Does our government get this? They are actively enabling the fossil fuel industry through obscene subsidies and tax breaks for new fossil fuel extraction.

"They are wasting billions supporting unicorn technologies such as carbon capture and storage projects which provide a fig leaf for business as usual to continue. There has been no rapid and sweeping social change, no widespread adoption of low carbon technology, no war-style mobilisation."

The group states that the country needs to end its reliance on fossil fuels within eight years, and switching to cleaner energy sources.

By contrast they say government subsidies for the production and consumption of fossil fuels in recent years have amounted to £12 billion a year, the equivalent to £230 million every week.

The UK has pledged to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions to net zero by 2050 - meaning the country needs to take as much climate-changing gases out of the atmosphere as it puts in.

But a damning report in June from UK Committee on Climate Change (UKCCC), which advises the government, has criticised plans to meet the goal.

In 2021, Boris Johnson set a target for all of the UK's electricity to come from clean sources by 2035, but the UKCCC says the lack of a clear strategy means the government risks not reaching its 2035 target.