Labour MP warns proscribing Palestine Action would be ‘kneejerk reaction’

Labelling Palestine Action a terrorist group would be a risky, “kneejerk” decision, MPs have warned, after a break-in at RAF Brize Norton last week.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has unveiled plans to proscribe the organisation, which armed forces minister Luke Pollard described as “not a protest group”.

Counter-terror police are investigating the break-in last Friday, when activists damaged two RAF Voyager aircraft using paint.

This country has a long history of protests, as I mentioned in this chamber last week, some on British military sites, and none have been branded as terrorists

Palestine Action claimed responsibility for the incident, and the organisation posted footage from the Oxfordshire base on its X account, claiming that the planes help to “collect intelligence, refuel fighter jets and transport weapons to commit genocide in Gaza”.

Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside Kim Johnson told the Commons that she was “concerned by the Government’s kneejerk reaction to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation”.

She told MPs: “This country has a long history of protests, as I mentioned in this chamber last week, some on British military sites, and none have been branded as terrorists.”

Ms Johnson added that authorities could pursue those responsible for “criminal damage, but not as a terrorist”, and asked: “Can the minister set out what steps his department will take to ensure peaceful protest activity is not wrongly categorised as a national security threat?”

Mr Pollard replied: “The proscription of Palestine Action has been something that has been considered over a long period of time by my colleagues in the Home Office.

“It is a decision that they have taken after considering the facts, those in the public domain and those perhaps held privately, and we are certain that this is the right course of action to keep our country safe in these difficult times.”

Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader, said: “Direct action at military bases is nothing new. We remember with respect the women who marched from Wales to Greenham Common, and the thousands of women who joined them.

“They didn’t just march, they pulled down fences. They criminally damaged infrastructure.

“So, does the minister recognise the risk implicit in proscribing protest groups calling out war as terrorist organisations?”

Ms Saville Roberts was referring to a demonstration between 1981 and 2000, when anti-nuclear weapons protesters set up the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp.

Mr Pollard replied: “They’re not a protest group. They are people that have undertaken severe criminal damage to military assets. They’re people who are increasingly using violence as part of their modus operandi.

“The decision that the Home Secretary has taken has not been taken lightly and reflects the seriousness of the intent of that organisation.

“I welcome free speech, I welcome debate and challenge, but vandalising RAF jets is not free speech – that is criminal damage, that is interventions on a military base, that is – as I say in my statement – not only epically stupid but also a threat to our national security and the Home Secretary was right to proscribe them.”

In his statement, Mr Pollard had earlier told MPs that personnel at Brize Norton “work tirelessly to support our armed forces deployed across the world to deliver military assistance to Ukraine, and they have been formally recognised for their contribution in flying humanitarian aid into Gaza, so this action does nothing to further the path to peace”.

Sir Julian Lewis, the Conservative MP for New Forest East, warned that “it would do the country and the Government no favours if they were to lose in court a challenge to the process of proscription, because whereas the secret sabotage of planes would certainly have been an act of terrorism leading to proscription, the fact is, this was a performative act which they announced they had done”.

MPs will have a “full debate” in Parliament as part of the proscription process, Mr Pollard pledged in response, as he said the bid to proscribe Palestine Action was put together after “considerable thought”.

Our armed forces are brilliant but it's time they had first-class facilities

MPs also heard that the “fence is not formidable” at Brize Norton, after Liberal Democrat MP for Witney Charlie Maynard told the Commons that “security at the base has been really underinvested for a long time”.

Mr Maynard said he had walked around the base’s perimeter in his constituency “quite a few times”.

Mr Pollard said the Government’s response had already “helped identify a number of immediate steps” to bolster security at the site.

The minister added: “He is right that much of our armed forces estate and our armed forces have been hollowed out and underfunded for far too long.

“It’s precisely for that reason that I welcome the increase in defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by April 2027.

“Our armed forces are brilliant but it’s time they had first-class facilities.”