Palestine Action Protests: Arrests

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

My Lords, it is not, I am afraid, appropriate for the Minister to stand here and say what the police are doing is none of his business. Putting aside for a moment the proscription of Palestine Action—and you know how I feel about that—the police clearly do not understand the powers that have been given to them. They are clearly arresting people who are protesting peacefully. The Minister has a responsibility to make sure the police know what they are doing.

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

Absolutely, we do. I assure the noble Baroness that the Government take the way in which this is interpreted and executed by the police very seriously. But what I am saying is that it is not the responsibility of this Government to make judgments on the ground, which police officers are trained and supported to do, about what action to take in relation to the legislation that we have passed. It is the job of the police to make those independent judgments—it is not for me as the Minister to say that they should arrest somebody or not arrest somebody. That is a judgment for the police under the legislative framework that this House and the House of Commons set.