Palestine Action ‘not a standard protest group’ says Yvette Cooper as she defends determination to outlaw it as a terrorist organisation after courts blow

Yvette Cooper today defended her decision to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, insisting it was ‘not a normal protest group’.

Judges ruled on Friday that a decision she made when home secretary was unlawful, with implications for thousands of people arrested for supporting the group at protests across the country.

The ban remains in place ahead of an appeal against the High Court ruling but the Metropolitan Police has indicated officers were unlikely to arrest people simply for showing support for Palestine Action until the legal situation was clarified. 

Following the decision, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood swore to ‘fight this judgment in the Court of Appeal’, although a group of Labour backbenchers has urged her to drop the action.

In a 46-page ruling on Friday, Dame Victoria Sharp said Ms Cooper’s prescription was ‘disproportionate’, saying while PA ‘promotes its political cause through criminality and encouragement of criminality, a very small number of its actions have amounted to terrorist action.’

Ms Cooper, who has since moved to become Foreign Secretary, told Sky News today: ‘I followed the clear advice and recommendations going through a serious process the Home Office goes through … which was very clear about the recommendation about prescription of this group.

‘The court has also concluded that this is not a normal protest group, it found that this group had committed actions of terrorism, that this group is not simply in line with democratic values and has promoted violence as well.

Judges ruled on Friday that a decision Yvette Cooper made when home secretary was unlawful, with implications for thousands of people arrested for supporting the group

Ms Cooper, who has since moved to become Foreign Secretary, told Sky News today: ‘I followed the clear advice and recommendations going through a serious process the Home Office goes through … which was very clear about the recommendation about prescription of this group.

The High Court’s ruling was a massive blow to the government and means that more than 2,000 people who were arrested for holding signs or displaying messages supporting the group may now have proceedings dropped.

Palestine Action was proscribed on July 5 last year by Ms Cooper after a number of high-profile violent protests, including a raid on a UK-based defence company that saw a female PC attacked with a sledgehammer. 

As a result, being a member of, or showing support for, the group became an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. 

Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said she was ‘appalled’ by the High Court’s ruling.

The Witham MP told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: ‘It is right that they feel the full force of our laws, including the proscription that has been put in place. They are on par with how terrorist organisations conduct themselves, and they plan their attacks.

‘I think the public would be absolutely horrified to see that these individuals have been able to essentially get away with the type of activity that they have been able to thus far.’

While the judges found that the decision should be quashed, they warned that the group remains banned pending Ms Mahmood’s appeal. 

However, this distinction appears to have been lost on the Met Police, which said it would now stop arresting activists who express support for Palestine Action and merely ‘gather evidence’ against them instead. 

A spokesman said: ‘Officers will continue to identify offences where support for Palestine Action is being expressed, but they will focus on gathering evidence of those offences and the people involved to provide opportunities for enforcement at a later date, rather than making arrests at the time.

‘This is the most proportionate approach we can take, acknowledging the decision reached by the court while recognising that proceedings are not yet fully concluded.’

Laurence Taylor, head of Counter Terrorism Policing – a UK-wide network of police and security service staff – said it would now enforce the proscription of Palestine Action ‘pragmatically’, raising the possibility it could also suspend arrests. 

Lord Walney, who was appointed as an independent government advisor under the Conservatives, last week declared himself ‘deeply disappointed’. 

‘It is right that the Home Secretary appeals this deeply disappointing verdict which risks sending a signal that far left activists can hold the country to ransom,’ he said. 

‘While Palestine Action has deployed violence less frequently than other proscribed groups, the criminal damage they systematically inflict clearly falls within the legal definition of terrorism.’