Labour MPs urge UK Government not to appeal against Palestine Action ruling

Labour MPs have urged the UK Government not to appeal against the High Court ruling that banning Palestine Action as a terror group was unlawful and “disproportionate”.

The backbench MPs, as well as Labour peers in the House of Lords, also urged Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to withdraw her assertion she would fight the ruling, language they said was not “becoming your vital office of state and Labour values”.

Friday’s judgment could have implications for thousands of people arrested for supporting the group at protests across the country.

The ban remains in place for now and the Government plans to appeal against the ruling.

Proscription makes it a criminal offence to belong to or support Palestine Action, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

A group of 26 MPs and peers, including Blair-era former minister Lord Peter Hain and senior MP John McDonnell, wrote to the Government urging it not to go ahead with its plans for appeal.

Independent MP Diane Abbott is also among the signatories of the letters, as are several Labour MPs who have previously rebelled against the Government, including Rachael Maskell and Neil Duncan-Jordan, according to a copy shared by Hayes and Harlington MP Mr McDonnell on social media site X.

They said: “We urge you to respect this decision, thus sending a signal that this Labour Government will promote the rule of law, even when this feels inconvenient or embarrassing in the context of past mistakes.”

The letter added: “We would add that the proscription has proved extremely counterproductive to public order, community cohesion and trust in the Government.

“We urge you not to seek permission to appeal but instead to let the authorities differentiate between pursuing substantive serious offences and guilt by mere association.”

Following the decision, Ms Mahmood swore to “fight this judgment in the Court of Appeal” in a post on X.

The Labour MPs and peers criticised her for this choice of language, and said: “In addition, please withdraw your hasty tweet which speaks of ‘fighting’ the court decision with more temperate language becoming your vital office of state and Labour values.”

Although the ban remains in place after the decision, the Metropolitan Police has indicated officers were unlikely to arrest people simply for showing support for Palestine Action until the legal situation was clarified.

Ms Mahmood said she was “disappointed” by the ruling and officials fear it could severely restrict the Government’s discretion to act to ban organisations in the future.

The group has undertaken 385 direct actions in protest at the situation in Palestine and the actions of the Israeli government since 2020, according to police.

The High Court said a “very small number” of those actions amounted to terrorism.

Palestine Action’s co-founder Huda Ammori took legal action against the Home Office over then-home secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision last year to proscribe the group under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The decision was announced in the wake of the group claiming responsibility for causing an estimated £7 million of damage to military tanker planes at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

In a 46-page ruling on Friday, Dame Victoria Sharp, sitting with Mr Justice Swift and Mrs Justice Steyn, said: “We are satisfied that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was disproportionate.

“At its core, Palestine Action is an organisation that promotes its political cause through criminality and encouragement of criminality. A very small number of its actions have amounted to terrorist action.”