Scottish Greens justice spokesperson Maggie Chapman has renewed calls for the UK Government to end the proscription of Palestine Action following comments by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband at the Labour conference.

Miliband told people who had been moved and outraged by the plight of Palestinians that “we hear you” and “you were right”, while saying the Labour Government had reset its approach under Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

Palestine Action has been a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000 since July 2025, making membership of the group or inviting support for it a criminal offence.

Thousands of arrests linked to suspected support for Palestine Action have been recorded since the proscription, while the decision to ban the organisation remains the subject of legal proceedings.

Chapman argues that Miliband’s acknowledgement of public anger over Gaza is inconsistent with the government’s continued proscription of Palestine Action and its consequences for protesters.

She said:

“The people who have marched, organised and spoken out against Israel’s genocide have helped force Palestine onto the political agenda. They deserve to be heard and their rights respected.

“Ed Miliband is right to acknowledge the outrage felt by millions of people who have watched the devastation of Gaza and demanded that their government act.

“But that acknowledgement will ring hollow as long as Labour maintains a ban that has criminalised hundreds of people for calling out genocide and other war crimes, waving banners and wearing t-shirts.

“Seeing ministers applaud the conscience of campaigners from a conference stage, while people outside face arrest for expressing their solidarity, and people in Gaza continue to face unimaginable torment in the face of genocide, is as out-of-touch as it is cruel.

“If the Labour Government is remotely serious about changing course, it must end the proscription of Palestine Action and defend our fundamental rights to freedom of expression and peaceful protest.

“Instead of banning protesters, the UK Government should be banning arms sales to Israel and ensuring that the UK is no longer complicit in the oppression of the Palestinian people.”

The UK Government’s position is that Palestine Action crossed the threshold from direct criminal action into terrorism through serious property damage intended to advance a political cause, while opponents of the ban argue that proscription has had disproportionate consequences for freedom of expression and peaceful protest.

The legal battle is continuing, with the UK Supreme Court due to consider part of the challenge to the proscription in November.