Commenting on the climate change protests outside of the Royal Bank of Scotland Headquarters Mike Crockart said: “I have sympathy with the aim to promote greener energy generation and limit the investment in what could be seen as environmentally damaging activities and I welcomed RBS's willingness to hold talks with demonstrators last week.

“We need to work harder to ensure that we continue to tackle the challenges of global climate change head on- and this includes private investment in green energy and moving away from more carbon intensive forms of generation.

“However, the last 48 hours have seen things take an ugly turn where some demonstrators have shown themselves to have little or no respect for the rule of law or for the safety of innocent staff and members of the public.

“The utterly irresponsible behaviour seen on public roads could have caused serious injury or worse and all reasonable people will join me in condemning these actions.”