A council candidate has revealed she was arrested while protesting against climate change.

Fiona Prior, 56, of Carlisle, was among a Cumbrian contingent who travelled to London last week to join the Extinction Rebellion protest.

She says is so passionate about fighting for the right to a future that she took part in a protest that led to her group being arrested.

On the final day of the London shutdown, Ms Prior, and the rest of her group, decided to sit in the road in front of the Bank of England to draw attention to the role of big businesses and the financial district in climate change.

After an hour, the police began to make arrests.

“I was the last person to be carried off the road,” she told the News & Star.

The arrest - from which no charges have followed - is only a small part of Ms Prior’s story.

“I really wanted to take part in this event because of Extinction Rebellion’s three pledges,” she added.

Those three pledges are for the government to declare a climate crisis, to act now to halt biodiversity loss and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to create a national citizen assembly.

From staging die-ins to the community spirit, Ms Prior made it clear her support for the cause.

She took part in writing letters to MPs. Her letter to Carlisle’s John Stevenson referenced what she sees as government’s failure to adequately fight for our rights and freedoms.

At the Marble Arch camp, she was touched by the actions of her fellow protestors.

After hearing of her freezing first night, people donated blankets, sleeping bags and air mattresses to help her out.

The public was equally as welcoming.

As she sat in Oxford Circus, a resident told the protestors that the air hadn’t felt this clean in years. Other people thanked them.

She describes the whole experience as “absolutely amazing” but now, nothing “is quite in full colour”.

Fiona Prior is a councillor candidate for the Green Party in Botcherby/Harraby North.

The Full list of candidates in Botcherby/Harraby North are: Robert Betton (Ind), Jeffrey Bomford (Ind), Sue Crawford (Lab), Lawrence Fisher (Con), David Graham (Lab), Suzanne Greenwood (Con), Abdul Harid (Lab), Jacklyn Hunton (UKIP), Val Marriner (Con), Jack Paton (Ind), Fiona Prior (Green), Mark Smith (Putting Cumbria First), and Laura Ward (Putting Cumbria First).