MPs have voted to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group, despite warnings the decision will conflate protest and terrorism.
On Wednesday, the House of Commons approved legislation to outlaw the group under the Terrorism Act 2000, with MPs voting 385 to 26 – a majority of 359.
The Lords is set to consider and vote on the proposal on Thursday before it can be enacted into law.
When the measure passes, belonging to or endorsing the direct action group would become a criminal offence, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
During the debate, security minister Dan Jarvis assured MPs that individuals voicing support for Palestine “have always been able to, and can continue to do so” as he called for backing to ban Palestine Action.
He said: “Palestine Action is not a legitimate protest group.
“People engaged in lawful protest don’t need weapons. People engaged in lawful protest do not throw smoke bombs and fire pyrotechnics around innocent members of the public.
“And people engaged in lawful protest do not cause millions of pounds of damage to national security infrastructure, including submarines and defence equipment for Nato.”
Cooper announced her plans to proscribe Palestine Action following the group’s latest and most high-profile action at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, which involved two activists spraying paint into the engines of two Voyager aircraft. Sir Keir Starmer described their actions as “disgraceful” and an “act of vandalism”.
A spokesperson for Palestine Action, however, criticised the government for continuing “to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US and Israeli fighter jets,” adding their stunt was made “to symbolise Palestinian bloodshed”.
Jeremy Corbyn said the proscription of the group will have a “chilling effect on protests”.
The Independent MP said: “Surely we should be looking at the issue that Palestine Action are concerned about, and the supply of weapons from this country to Israel, which has made all this possible. If this order goes through today, it will have a chilling effect on protests.”
Labour MP Kim Johnson said: “We should all be able to agree that lumping Palestine Action together with the other two obscure groups to ensure that it is proscribed is a disgraceful manipulation of parliamentary procedure.
“Search in Hansard: neither of the two groups have been mentioned, they are so obscure, this manoeuvre is legally transparent and shows that the Government knows just how shaky proscription is.”