Labour MPs regret voting for Palestine Action ban that led to 4,000 arrests in a year

Labour MPs are claiming that the government pressured them into a decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terror group. Some of those members now believe the proscription has harmed the right to protest. Ahead of a vote on legislation on 2 July last year, ministers were corralling MPs to back the ban during a series of meetings in Westminster. One MP said that Dan Jarvis, the minister for security, had given Labour members assurances that people who were peacefully protesting would not be affected.

“That is very clearly not the case,” the MP said. Clive Lewis, a Labour MP who voted against the ban last year, said: “It’s a total shitshow and most Labour MPs I know that voted or abstained on it have buyers remorse. Of all the toxic legacies Starmer left us, this is one of the most radioactive. It’s why Jarvis has his own Ready Brek glow.” The vote passed 385 votes to 26, with 114 Labour MPs abstaining. Since then almost 4,000 protesters have been arrested, often for holding up signs professing their support for Palestine Action and opposition to genocide, the group claims.

Showing support for an organisation listed under the Terrorism Act is a criminal offence. Arresting “people who just go to a protest, a general Palestine protest, and hold up a sign, that is egregious overreach,” the MP, a senior backbencher, said. A second Labour MP said the problem was that the terrorism legislation used did not allow them to tackle the group’s more destructive activities while also allowing room for dissent. Massive Attack singer Robert Del Naja speaks to camera as he joins protesters outside the supreme court yesterday “The tool [of proscription] itself is too broad, and not narrow enough to address the acts of violence without also getting the protests,” they said.

“It was never intended to stop old ladies from peaceful protest – which is a fundamentally British thing to do.” The same MP suggested this facet had been weaponised by Palestine Action supporters to further undermine the argument in favour of proscription. This week, the supreme court was hearing a challenge to the ban, brought by one of Palestine Action’s founders, Huda Ammori. Raza Husain, representing Ammori, told the court the ban amounted to a “colossal invasion” of the rights of assembly and freedom of expression for members of the group and their supporters.

Those rights are protected by the European Convention of Human Rights. He said Yvette Cooper, then home secretary, failed to adequately take those freedoms into account when deciding to add the group to the list of terror organisations and argued that Palestine Action sits within a long tradition of peaceful and sometimes destructive protest. Related articles: Government defends Palestine Action ban ahead of legal case ‘A chilling effect’: Palestine Action barrister speaks out about contempt case The government, which will make a formal rebuttal tomorrow, argues that Palestine Action mounted a series of escalating attacks on military and civilian infrastructure, as well as hitting a police officer with a sledgehammer.

Advice provided to Cooper at the time from security services recommended Palestine Action be added to the list of terrorist organisations. “The proscription of Palestine Action does not affect lawful support of the Palestinian cause, which remains a fundamental democratic right,” a Home Office spokesperson said. “The court of appeal found that Palestine Action carried out acts of terrorism, celebrated those who took part in them and promoted the use of violence.

Its proscription followed a rigorous and evidence-based decision-making process, endorsed by parliament.” Metropolitan Police resources have been strained by more than a year of protests deliberately defying the ban on shows of support Metropolitan Police resources have been strained by more than a year of protests deliberately defying the ban on shows of support Palestine Action managed to have the ban overturned in the lower courts. The court of appeal reinstated it.

The supreme court’s decision is expected in the coming months. The issue has grown increasingly uncomfortable for Labour MPs as well as the government. Metropolitan Police resources have been strained by more than a year of protests deliberately defying the ban on shows of support. “Certainly… the many thousands of officer shifts that would have otherwise been spent in communities is part of the overall picture,” Matt Jukes, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, said.

The police had consulted with the Crown Prosecution Service on enforcement against protesters holding signs. “The law is clear,” said Jukes. “Our operational view is that we are not in a position to pick and choose which proscribed organisations we enforce the law around, that would be wrong in principle, wrong in law, and would open a wide set of opportunities to be exploited.” Police arrest protesters outside the supreme court yesterday Some of those who set the law, however, now have regrets.

The ban was “a case that feels built on sand,” said a third Labour MP, who voted in favour of proscribing the group last July. “It is a vote I struggle to justify.” As well as concerns about the degree to which peaceful protest was not protected, several MPs – even those who continue to broadly support the measure – feel that the Home Office’s claim that they could not fully explain their rationale for fear of prejudicing trials over the raid on British-Israeli defence manufacturer Elbit Systems in Bristol was not sufficient.

The circumstances of the vote were also “a sore point”, the MP said. It took place the day after Labour backbenchers had mounted a major rebellion against the government of Keir Starmer. Proposals to change the rules for universal credit and personal independence payments had been voted down and the party was in turmoil. It left little time or energy for the proposed proscription to be explored. Cooper also bundled it with bans on a neo-Nazi group and a Russian white supremacist organisation, making it harder for Labour MPs to vote against.

“It was one of those days that crushed your faith in the Starmer government. Those two days were definitely a big part of the reason why Keir Starmer is no longer the prime minister of this country,” the first MP said. Photograph by Henry Nicholls/AFP, Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images Keir Starmer Labour Police Protest Yvette Cooper Palestine Action Palestine