The UK Just Lost Control Of Its Terror Laws

The government claim that was used to shape a national security decision still hasn't presented the proof for it. Why are we still waiting? Right, so they said Palestine Action was an Iranian front. They said it with a straight face. They said it in Parliament. They said it in the papers. Nobody showed any evidence, but the statement moved anyway, because that’s how these things work when the right people want them to. Then Private Eye reported that the Iran line may not have come from intelligence at all, but from a PR shop working for Elbit Systems UK, the weapons manufacturer that Palestine Action were of course actually targeting. CMS Strategic, named in that report, denied it outright. Categorically untrue. End of statement. And yet the timing sits there, with all the subtlety of a brick: a protest group hammering at an arms company, a story about Iran arriving late and awfully convenient, and a government that didn’t wait for proof before reaching for the terrorism laws of course. Right, so back on the 23, the Home Secretary stood in the House of Commons and stated that she intended to proscribe Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000. There was no intelligence assessment placed before the House at that time. There was no dossier released to MPs. The statement was made as policy declaration, not as presentation of evidence. The Draft Proscription Order was laid before Parliament a week later. The order was listed as Statutory Instrument 2025/803. The language of the instrument named Palestine Action as an organisation to be added to the list of proscribed groups. The document did not contain an annex of evidential material, so once again, we all had to take the governments word for this, but the legal effect of the instrument was to of course criminalise membership, support, or association. The House of Commons approved the order on 2 July which passed. The debate transcript shows the Iran link being referenced by members during the session though. Again, no intelligence report was tabled. The vote proceeded without a closed session, without a briefing from the Intelligence and Security Committee, and without disclosure of the basis for the Iran claim. The House of Lords approved the order on 3 July. The approval followed the same pattern. Reference to Iran. No evidence. No questioning of the origin of that claim. The procedural path from announcement to approval ran without interruption. The proscription came into force on 5 July. From that time, Palestine Action was treated in law as a terrorist organisation. Individuals associated with the network became liable to arrest and prosecution for activities that had previously been charged as criminal damage, trespass, or public order offences, because of course, they’ve never harmed anyone, failing the very definition of terror.