The British Home Secretary has made an order proscribing Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000. This makes it an offence under that Act to belong to the organisation, to invite support for the organisation and even to express an opinion that is supportive of the organisation. Only a very few British MP’s (including Liverpool’s Kim Johnson and Ian Byrne to their credit) voted against this measure when it was debated. The proscription is an outrageous attack on civil liberties and it is not surprising that our government which is actively supporting the genocide in Gaza should take this action. We don’t give legal advice on the exact scope of the law, but two helpful briefings are HERE (Netpol) and HERE (CAGE International).
It is important that we do not let up in our campaigning for the Palestinians. A statement about the proscription from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign is HERE while our own statement is HERE. A similar statement from Liverpool Trades Union Council is HERE.
A court application for judicial review of the proscription order is in process. A single judge of the court refused to halt the order before the application was heard (the judgment is HERE, suggest read paras 70 to 74) but later gave permission for the case to proceed to full hearing. The judgement ‘giving leave’ is HERE (suggest read from para 70). The Government’s appeal against the grant of permission was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on 17 October (the judgment is HERE) and the scope of the legal challenge was slightly widened. The court hearing ended on 2 December. Judgment was handed down on 13 February, declaring the proscription unlawful (the full ruling and the press summary can be found HERE, suggest read paras 89 to 95 and 16 to 140). The government appealed the decision and after a hearing at the end of April the judgment was handed down on15 June..The government appeal succeeded – the judgment is HERE – so the proscription remains in force pending a further appeal that will be heard by the Supreme Court on 4 and 5 November.
In the meantime there have been over 3,000 arrests across Britain for mere expressions of support for Palestine Action. Our statement on four arrests in Liverpool on 20 July 2025 is HERE.
On 10 November 2025 a report was published by the Independent Commission on UK Counter-Terrorism Law. This report makes recommendations that are relevant to Palestine Action. The full report is HERE and Palestine Action is specifically dealt with on pages 254-255.