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Dr Hart, 38, was jailed in January after causing damage to 16 fuel pumps at Thurrock Motorway Services, in Grays, Essex.

By providing an alternative route, linking the A2 and M2 in Kent with the A13 and M25 in Thurrock, it is hoped the Lower Thames Crossing will cut traffic there by 20%.

Reacting to the announcement on X, James McMurdock, the South Basildon and East Thurrock MP, said congestion in Kent would remain "unresolved" despite the project.

Elections in East Sussex, West Sussex, Essex, Thurrock, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Norfolk, Suffolk and Surrey will be delayed until 2026 as part of a wider shake-up of local government.

Ten other protesters, who took part in JSO demonstrations on M25 gantries, occupied tunnels under the road leading to the Navigator Oil Terminal in Thurrock in Essex and threw soup on Van Gogh's Sunflowers in the National Gallery in London, had their sentences upheld.