Palestine Action has committed ‘violence' and ‘significant injury', No 10 says
Scotland Yard has said some 522 people were held over the weekend for displaying an item in support of a proscribed group, out of the total 532 arrests made during the policing operation at a march in central London.
Asked on Monday whether the Government was reconsidering its decision to designate the group as a terrorist organisation following mass arrests on Saturday, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'No. Palestine Action was proscribed based on strong security advice following serious attacks the group has committed involving violence, significant injury and extensive criminal damage.'
Downing Street said the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre – an independent authority based within MI5 – had found the organisation had carried out three separate acts of terrorism.
The Government is unable to provide 'all of the detail at this stage' but the proscription has been made through a 'robust, evidence-based process', it said.
'We've said that many people may not yet know the reality of this organisation, but the assessments are very clear: this is a violent organisation that has committed violence, significant injury and extensive criminal damage,' Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman said.
Speaking to broadcasters earlier on Monday, justice minister Alex Davies-Jones said supporters of the group would face 'the full force of the law'.
'We have credible reports of them targeting Jewish-owned businesses here in the United Kingdom, and there are other reasons, which we can't disclose because of national security,' she told BBC Breakfast.
Meanwhile, officers from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command will be working over the coming weeks to put together case files in relation to arrests made at a protest in London in Saturday, the force has said.
The demonstration was held in Parliament Square on Saturday, organised by Defend Our Juries, with the Metropolitan Police warning it would detain anyone expressing support for Palestine Action.
The majority of those arrested, 348, were aged 50 or over, according to a breakdown published by the Met on Sunday.
Detained protesters were taken to prisoner processing points in the Westminster area.
Those whose details could be confirmed were released on bail to appear at a police station at a future date.
There were a further 10 arrests, six for assaults on officers, two for breaching Public Order Act conditions, one arrest for obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty, and one for a racially aggravated public order offence, the force said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Guardian
9 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Students receiving eagerly anticipated A-level results
Students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are receiving grades to help them decide whether to progress to university, an apprenticeship or work. Last year, 27.8% of UK A-level entries were awarded an A or A* grade – the highest proportion outside the pandemic-affected years of 2020-22. The Covid-19 pandemic led to an increase in top A-level grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams. In 2019 – the last year that summer exams were taken before the Covid-19 pandemic – 25.4% of UK A-level entries were awarded top grades. Leaders in the education sector have warned of the possible continuation of 'stark' divides in A-level results between different regions across the country because of the legacy of the pandemic and socio-economic factors. The Education Secretary has said she will not 'stand by and accept the entrenched inequalities' that blight the life chances of many young people. The Government's plans for turning around the attainment gap between white working class children and their peers is due to be set out in the autumn. Students who are receiving their A-level and level 3 vocational and technical qualification results were in Year 8 when schools closed because of the pandemic. This cohort of school and college leavers received their GCSE results in 2023 – the first year that grading was returned to pre-pandemic levels in England. In Wales and Northern Ireland, exam regulators returned to pre-pandemic grading in 2024 – a year later than in England. Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said A-level grades have returned to a 'consistent standard' since the pandemic and he would expect that to 'broadly continue' this year. But Mr Di'Iasio told the PA news agency: 'Unfortunately, we also expect to see the continuation of persistent inequities in terms of performance gaps between different regions and students. 'This is a product of longstanding socio-economic factors which require a much more concerted society-wide effort to fix.' He added: 'The legacy of Covid is part of this picture, with the disruption caused by the pandemic likely to have had the greatest impact on students from disadvantaged homes. 'Schools and colleges have put huge efforts into supporting these young people, but without sufficient Government action to help them, and in the face of an extremely difficult situation caused by funding and teacher shortages. 'The current Government has made the right noises but unfortunately this has so far not been matched by the improved investment in education which is so clearly required.' Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said: 'We must brace ourselves for stark divides in A-level results this year — not only between state and private schools, but also between London and other regions such as the South West and North East. 'In recent years, the gap in top grades — As and A*s, the passports to the most selective universities — has grown alarmingly, undermining efforts to widen access. 'These inequities are being driven by a toxic mix of the cost-of-living crisis, rising poverty, persistent school absence, and the long shadow of Covid. 'Unless we act, we risk locking in generational divides that will shape life chances for decades, with all our social mobility indicators now flashing red.' For many students, receiving their exam results on Thursday will also bring confirmation of university places. Last week, Jo Saxton, head of Ucas, suggested a record number of 18-year-olds could be successful in securing their first-choice university on results day. British universities are keen to recruit UK students because there is more 'uncertainty' around international students, she suggested. On the day before A-level results day, a PA sample of 129 of the UK's largest higher education providers showed there were 22,518 courses with vacancies for undergraduate students living in England on the Ucas clearing site – which matches applicants to university places yet to be filled. As of Wednesday afternoon, 18 of the 24 Russell Group universities, which represent some of the most selective UK institutions, had vacancies on courses for English residents – a total of 3,492 courses between them. Clearing is available to students who do not meet the conditions of their offer on A-level results day, as well as those who did not receive any offers. But prospective students who have changed their mind about what or where they wish to study, and also those who have applied outside the normal application window, can also use clearing. In England, T-level results will also be received by students on Thursday. Speaking on A-level results day, Ms Phillipson said: 'Every young person should have the opportunity to achieve and thrive. 'This Government won't stand by and accept the entrenched inequalities that continue to blight the life chances of too many young people, especially those from white working class backgrounds who have long been overlooked. 'We're already taking decisive action and making encouraging progress.' She added: 'Today is a time for celebration as young people up and down the country collect their exam results. 'Whether A-levels, T-levels or technical and vocational qualifications, I wish everyone the very best of luck, and offer my heartfelt thanks to the fantastic teachers, staff and parents who've supported them to this milestone.' Kevin Latham, research and policy manager at the Sutton Trust social mobility charity, told PA: 'Year 8 is a crucial time in educational and social development, and the effects of school closures during lockdown are ongoing.' He said he would be 'surprised' if there is significant improvement in attainment gaps between the South East and North East of England. 'By the time students get to their A-levels, years of disadvantage are already baked in for pupils in areas of high deprivation,' Mr Latham said. Sir Ian Bauckham, chief regulator at Ofqual, England's exams regulator, said: 'Ahead of students receiving their results we would like to recognise the valuable contributions made by their teachers who have put so much work into getting students to this important day. 'Exam results can change people's lives, and underpinning these defining moments is a well-regulated system of widely recognised and valued assessments and qualifications.' Scotland has a different qualification system and students received their results on Tuesday last week. Figures released by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) showed that 78.4% of those sitting National 5 exams passed with grades A to C – up from 77.2% last year. For Highers, 75.9% passed with the top bands, up from 74.9% last year, and for Advanced Highers 76.7% of students achieved A to C grades, up from 75.3% last year.
Glasgow Times
22 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Students receiving eagerly anticipated A-level results
Students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are receiving grades to help them decide whether to progress to university, an apprenticeship or work. Last year, 27.8% of UK A-level entries were awarded an A or A* grade – the highest proportion outside the pandemic-affected years of 2020-22. The Covid-19 pandemic led to an increase in top A-level grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams. In 2019 – the last year that summer exams were taken before the Covid-19 pandemic – 25.4% of UK A-level entries were awarded top grades. Leaders in the education sector have warned of the possible continuation of 'stark' divides in A-level results between different regions across the country because of the legacy of the pandemic and socio-economic factors. The Education Secretary has said she will not 'stand by and accept the entrenched inequalities' that blight the life chances of many young people. The Government's plans for turning around the attainment gap between white working class children and their peers is due to be set out in the autumn. Students who are receiving their A-level and level 3 vocational and technical qualification results were in Year 8 when schools closed because of the pandemic. This cohort of school and college leavers received their GCSE results in 2023 – the first year that grading was returned to pre-pandemic levels in England. In Wales and Northern Ireland, exam regulators returned to pre-pandemic grading in 2024 – a year later than in England. Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said A-level grades have returned to a 'consistent standard' since the pandemic and he would expect that to 'broadly continue' this year. But Mr Di'Iasio told the PA news agency: 'Unfortunately, we also expect to see the continuation of persistent inequities in terms of performance gaps between different regions and students. 'This is a product of longstanding socio-economic factors which require a much more concerted society-wide effort to fix.' He added: 'The legacy of Covid is part of this picture, with the disruption caused by the pandemic likely to have had the greatest impact on students from disadvantaged homes. 'Schools and colleges have put huge efforts into supporting these young people, but without sufficient Government action to help them, and in the face of an extremely difficult situation caused by funding and teacher shortages. 'The current Government has made the right noises but unfortunately this has so far not been matched by the improved investment in education which is so clearly required.' Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said: 'We must brace ourselves for stark divides in A-level results this year — not only between state and private schools, but also between London and other regions such as the South West and North East. 'In recent years, the gap in top grades — As and A*s, the passports to the most selective universities — has grown alarmingly, undermining efforts to widen access. 'These inequities are being driven by a toxic mix of the cost-of-living crisis, rising poverty, persistent school absence, and the long shadow of Covid. 'Unless we act, we risk locking in generational divides that will shape life chances for decades, with all our social mobility indicators now flashing red.' For many students, receiving their exam results on Thursday will also bring confirmation of university places. Last week, Jo Saxton, head of Ucas, suggested a record number of 18-year-olds could be successful in securing their first-choice university on results day. British universities are keen to recruit UK students because there is more 'uncertainty' around international students, she suggested. On the day before A-level results day, a PA sample of 129 of the UK's largest higher education providers showed there were 22,518 courses with vacancies for undergraduate students living in England on the Ucas clearing site – which matches applicants to university places yet to be filled. As of Wednesday afternoon, 18 of the 24 Russell Group universities, which represent some of the most selective UK institutions, had vacancies on courses for English residents – a total of 3,492 courses between them. Clearing is available to students who do not meet the conditions of their offer on A-level results day, as well as those who did not receive any offers. But prospective students who have changed their mind about what or where they wish to study, and also those who have applied outside the normal application window, can also use clearing. In England, T-level results will also be received by students on Thursday. Speaking on A-level results day, Ms Phillipson said: 'Every young person should have the opportunity to achieve and thrive. 'This Government won't stand by and accept the entrenched inequalities that continue to blight the life chances of too many young people, especially those from white working class backgrounds who have long been overlooked. 'We're already taking decisive action and making encouraging progress.' She added: 'Today is a time for celebration as young people up and down the country collect their exam results. 'Whether A-levels, T-levels or technical and vocational qualifications, I wish everyone the very best of luck, and offer my heartfelt thanks to the fantastic teachers, staff and parents who've supported them to this milestone.' Kevin Latham, research and policy manager at the Sutton Trust social mobility charity, told PA: 'Year 8 is a crucial time in educational and social development, and the effects of school closures during lockdown are ongoing.' He said he would be 'surprised' if there is significant improvement in attainment gaps between the South East and North East of England. 'By the time students get to their A-levels, years of disadvantage are already baked in for pupils in areas of high deprivation,' Mr Latham said. Sir Ian Bauckham, chief regulator at Ofqual, England's exams regulator, said: 'Ahead of students receiving their results we would like to recognise the valuable contributions made by their teachers who have put so much work into getting students to this important day. 'Exam results can change people's lives, and underpinning these defining moments is a well-regulated system of widely recognised and valued assessments and qualifications.' Scotland has a different qualification system and students received their results on Tuesday last week. Figures released by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) showed that 78.4% of those sitting National 5 exams passed with grades A to C – up from 77.2% last year. For Highers, 75.9% passed with the top bands, up from 74.9% last year, and for Advanced Highers 76.7% of students achieved A to C grades, up from 75.3% last year.
Daily Mail
36 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Labour's obsession with the religion of 'rewilding' threatens lives, livelihoods - and deadly moorland blazes
Wildfires are getting too close for comfort. The weekend blaze on Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh is the latest in a series of fires in what is already by far the worst year on record in this country. Our National Fire Chiefs Council has warned that not only are blazes increasingly common, they are increasingly dangerous and starting to cross the 'rural-urban interface'. As we have sadly seen in Los Angeles, even homes are under threat. The smoke, too, poses real dangers. The fumes from the devastating blaze on Saddleworth Moor in 2018 were inhaled by more than five million people, for example. The result, say scientists, is that more than 20 lives were brought to a premature end. You might be glad to learn that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has put Angela Rayner in charge of the Government's response to this growing crisis. Or maybe you're not. Because I cannot see a single thing that Deputy Prime Minister Ms Rayner has done to tackle a threat made worse by tinder-dry vegetation – which is made all the more combustible thanks to the sharp reduction in humidity as the climate warms. So a smart response would be to reduce the volume of vegetation on our hillsides. And for thousands of years, this is exactly what our ancestors did by conducting controlled burns in the winter months. The vegetation, including dead bracken and heather, is carefully set ablaze by gamekeepers when the weather is cold and damp. The result is to lessen the intensity of wildfires that take hold in the summer by creating firebreaks and reducing the amount of fuel available. Burns like this also create a habitat for game birds, including grouse, curlew and lapwing, to thrive. This ancient wisdom is backed up by scientific research which shows that, when done with skill and experience, preventative fires produce less smoke than uncontrolled blazes and even help sequester carbon. Efficient winter burns brush across the surface of the wet ground, leaving the moss and peat below untouched. Famously, you can place a Mars bar on the ground in the midst of a preventative heather fire and it won't melt. Yet this Government doesn't do ancient wisdom. And it doesn't do science. It does the religion of 'rewilding'. Beloved among metropolitan eco warriors, this obsession opposes traditional farming methods and demands that the landscape and its ecosystems be returned to the chaos of nature. As a fad it's relatively new, but even so it has done enormous damage. It is hard not to believe the drive to rewild our uplands – which effectively means abolishing managed grouse moors – is being led, at least in part, by the metropolitan Left's sheer animosity towards country sports in general and gamekeepers in particular. Among other things, the creed of rewilding outlaws precautionary winter burns on our hillsides. The result of such bans is that year in, year out, the vegetation keeps growing. And out-of-control vegetation can lead to out-of-control fires. It is a particular irony that Ms Rayner's constituents in Ashton-under-Lyne, east of Manchester, were among those who could see the flames on Saddleworth Moor. For the blaze started on land where Natural England, the Government's environmental quango, was carrying out its rewilding vision by banning winter burns. Despite the evidence, the Labour Government, driven by Ms Rayner, is now attempting to ban preventative fires on swathes of English upland, with plans afoot to outlaw burns on hills and moors with a peat depth of 30 centimetres (11in) or more. The claim is that this would protect the peat. The zealots at Natural England want to go much further still, however, and – by threatening to withdraw subsidies to landowners – is attempting to outlaw burns on hills with a mere 10cm (4in) peat depth. Covering pretty much all English peat land, this means vast areas of the countryside would see vegetation building up with no control. It would be like putting jerry cans of petrol on our hillsides. Sooner or later, they will catch fire. The snobbery facing country people is best summed up by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which, needless to say, is pushing for the ban on burning heather in the winter months. In fact, the RSPB is running what amounts in my view to a campaign of slander against country people. And that, in turn, is fuelling intimidation. One RSPB executive, for example, told listeners to BBC Radio 4's Today programme that gamekeepers were a 'co-ordinated gang of armed criminals roaming the uplands'. The same type of language is used in RSPB press releases. The result? Threats against, and even physical attacks on, gamekeepers, who will be especially vigilant this week as the Glorious Twelfth marks the start of the grouse shooting season. Yet gamekeepers are the heart of the countryside. If the craziness directed at them does not end, then jobs will be destroyed. Rural communities will disintegrate. Moorland hotels, taxi drivers and restaurants all rely on the seasonal income set to be destroyed by the vilification from the RSPB on the one hand and the mindless stupidity of Natural England on the other. Labour's old motto was that 'things can only get better'. Under this Government, things seem only to get worse. We have seen ever more pylons, turbines, solar farms, urban sprawl and now the threat of unnecessary wildfires. Draw your own conclusions. So as another heatwave takes hold, and the threat of deadly conflagrations grows, Labour MPs in rural seats should have a word with the Deputy Prime Minister. Ms Rayner and the too-clever-by-half pen-pushers at Natural England might take a moment to reflect on why so many scientists and powerful people disagree with them about the urgent measures we must take to protect ourselves from wildfires. In June, the G7 group of nations issued a declaration on the wildfire crisis which recommended... winter burns. A week earlier the White House issued an order that there must be no restrictions on preventative burns in the US, the lack of which has been cited as a factor is last year's catastrophic California fires. Meanwhile, the European Commission recommends reducing wildfire risk by having more livestock grazing to keep the vegetation short. Yet what has Natural England done? It has decreed that the number of cattle and sheep on our hills be sharply reduced – a policy enforced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs through its regime of subsidies. Sheep numbers have fallen by 7 per cent in the past two years. Country people care about this issue because they hate seeing their hillsides scarred. They hate finding the burnt bodies of animals which could not escape. And these, remember, are the farmers, gamekeepers and their wives who are on the front line helping to put out wildfires. Sooner or later, people will be killed fighting wildfires or die in their homes. The voters will know who to blame.
