Ministers blocked attempts to ban pro-Palestine ‘hate marches’ last month, despite warning they are fuelling antisemitism.
Keir Starmer and Shabana Mahmood have both hinted they will consider a ban on the marches, which have become a feature in towns across the UK following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
The Home Secretary said on Thursday there were ‘far too many instances’ of hate crimes being committed during the demonstrations – and suggested she is considering new powers to ban them where they are having a ‘cumulative effect’.
But the Mail can reveal that ministers voted down similar proposals put forward last month in the House of Lords, meaning that any crackdown is likely to be delayed.
Instead, the government introduced weaker restrictions that allow the police to place conditions on repeat marches, but do not permit them to be banned.
Lord Walney, the government’s former adviser on political violence, warned that promises of a crackdown following the latest attack on the Jewish community would ‘ring hollow’ with many.
The former Labour MP said: ‘I’m afraid the Jewish community does see the government’s response as appallingly weak because they have been asking for these marches to be banned for years. We are now seeing the horrifying consequences of inaction, which is that people are being stabbed for being Jewish.
‘Every time there is an attack we hear the government say they will do whatever it takes. But those words do ring hollow when they are rejecting proposals that might actually make a difference. I hope now that we will see a swift U-turn.’
Controversial: Pro-Palestine marches have become a regular feature in the UK since October 7
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood blocked a ban on so-called ‘hate marches’ last month, but now warns they can fuel anstisemitism
Jonathan Hall, the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, called for a ‘moratorium’ on pro-Palestine marches, saying it was ‘clearly impossible’ to prevent them ‘incubating’ antisemitic language.
‘We are now at a point at which the Government starts to need to start to take more risks as to what it’s prepared to do,’ he told Times Radio.
‘It pains me to say this, but I think we may have reached a point where we need to have a moratorium on the sorts of marches that have been happening.’
Kemi Badenoch joined calls for a crackdown on marches, saying it was ‘quite clear they are used as a cover for violence and intimidation against Jews’.
In a televised address in Downing Street, the Prime Minister insisted that the government would finally act – but warned that members of the public also had to help stamp out a problem that is ‘about society every bit as much as it is about security’.
Sir Keir confirmed that the government would provide a further £25 million to beef up security in Jewish communities.
He suggested that ministers will act to proscribe Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation, saying there was ‘no doubt’ that Iran wanted to ‘harm British Jews‘.
And he urged those attending pro-Palestine marches to challenge antisemitic behaviour such as banners glorifying the 7 October attacks and chants like ‘globalise the intifada’, which he described as ‘extreme racism’.
