Palestine Action: Proscription and Protests

Debate between Caroline Voaden and Dan Jarvis

Monday 8th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his thoughtful and sensible question. There is a formal legal process to be followed. As I said in response to an earlier question, the Government completely understand that any organisation that is proscribed has an absolute legal right to contest that decision. This Government will not stand in the way of that legal process, and we will respond in a reasonable and responsible way. There is a legal appeal under way. That will run its course, and then we will have a legal ruling. The Government will, of course, abide by that.

[Caroline Voaden (South Devon) (LD)]

Many members of my community were arrested in London on Saturday, including a senior priest, an elderly Jewish man, and a teacher who has spent years with Gazan children and has witnessed the horror of seeing them killed by Israeli troops over the last couple of years. These people are not terrorists. While I am sure all Members of the House agree that anybody attacking serving police officers in the streets deserves to be arrested, does the Minister accept that the use of counter-terror powers is wholly disproportionate to the peaceful action that these people took by simply holding signs, and sets a dangerous precedent for free speech?

[Dan Jarvis]

I do not accept the hon. Lady’s critique about the precedent with regard to free speech, for the reasons that I have already referenced and because tens of thousands of people were on the streets of London this weekend expressing their free speech. The police have difficult judgments to make. I do not accept her analysis that this was not proportionate. The Government have an absolute responsibility to act when the evidence suggests that we need to take decisions to secure public safety, which is what the Government have done. We stand by that decision, and we will work with the police to ensure that people obey the law. Where they do not, regardless of their age or professional background, I am afraid there have to be consequences.

Extremism Review

Debate between Caroline Voaden and Dan Jarvis

Tuesday 28th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

All leaks are wrong, but let me take this opportunity to say that I am actually very proud of the civil servants in the Home Office, who work extremely hard day in, day out to keep our country safe from a diverse range of threats. A number of Conservative Members here have worked in the Home Office, and I very much hope that they share my view that we should be extremely grateful to those civil servants who work around the clock to keep our country safe, and I am grateful for their efforts.

[Caroline Voaden (South Devon) (LD)]

The horrendous events in Southport show that people who do not fit the profile of Islamist or far-right extremism can still present serious risk. Does the Minister agree that there is a real danger in the promotion of misogyny and opposition to feminism online and that to combat the scourge of violence against women and girls, which sees one woman murdered almost every three days in the UK, the Government must take misogyny seriously as a form of extremism?

[Dan Jarvis]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady. She makes an incredibly important point, and hopefully she will know and understand how seriously this Government take those issues. We made an ambitious manifesto commitment to halve violence against women and girls over 10 years. That is something that, as Ministers in the Home Office with the Home Secretary and the Safeguarding Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Yardley (Jess Phillips), we are working at pace to address. We take these matters very seriously, and she is absolutely right to identify the particular challenges that exist online. The Safeguarding Minister will have more to say about this in due course.