Ed Davey calls for review of terrorism legislation after Palestine Action arrests – UK politics live | Politics
Ed Davey calls for review of terrorism legislation after Palestine Action arrests
Davey is also calling for a review of the law which has seen Palestine Action supporters arrested at demonstrations across Britain in recent weeks.
He said that, while Palestine Action have committed criminal acts and “are a very worrying organisation”, people are being arrested “en masse”.
The Lib Dems have written to the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation “to try to see if there are changes that can be made … so that it doesn’t happen again”.
He told BBC Breakfast:
In the House of Commons, we abstained [from the decision to make Palestine Action a proscribed organisation] because we didn’t think the government had made that case.
We absolutely accept that criminal acts have happened against British military assets and that is deeply worrying.
Key events
Lunchtime summary
I’m just going to grab some lunch but I will be leaving you in the more than capable hands of my colleague, Matthew Pearce.
Here is a quick round-up of the day’s headlines so far:
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Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey is calling for a review of the law which has seen Palestine Action supporters arrested at demonstrations across Britain in recent weeks. He said that, while Palestine Action have committed criminal acts and “are a very worrying organisation”, people are being arrested “en masse”.
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The Irish novelist Sally Rooney could be arrested under the Terrorism Act after saying she intends to use proceeds from her work to support Palestine Action, which was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK last month, a legal expert has warned. Meanwhile, No 10 said that supporting the group was an offence under the act, after Rooney had made her pledge.
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Keir Starmer is a “patriot” who supports the public displaying of the England flag, his official spokesperson claimed amid an apparent row over councils removing flags from lamp-posts. Downing Street said that the prime minister sees national pride as “an important thing,” in response to controversy over recent decisions by two councils to remove English and British flags, The Telegraph reported.
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Transport secretary Heidi Alexander has told the UK boss of car manufacturer Stellantis she has “serious concerns” about the impact on drivers from its recall of cars. The company announced an immediate and rare “stop-drive” order for certain models on 20 June because of a potentially fatal airbag safety fault.
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The prime minister has “done a good job” to help keep Europe united in its support for Ukraine, according to the Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey. Speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning, Davey praised Keir Starmer’s approach along with fellow European leaders but said the UK needs to do more to strengthen Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s negotiating position, ahead of a potential one-to-one meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
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Keir Starmer has returned to Scotland after his family holiday was interrupted by crunch talks on Ukraine in Washington DC. The prime minister’s plane flew from the US to Glasgow overnight following the White House discussions, landing on Tuesday morning, PA reported.
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Keir Starmer will co-chair a call of the so-called “coalition of the willing” on Tuesday morning. The prime minister and French president Emmanuel Macron have been leading the talks between nations looking to assist Ukraine.
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The head of the UK armed forces will travel to the US today for talks about American involvement in security guarantees for Ukraine. Keir Starmer has sent his chief of the defence staff Tony Radakin to work out details of measures to protect Ukraine after a peace deal is agreed.
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The UK has climbed down from its controversial demand that Apple provide access to encrypted customer data, following pressure from the Trump administration, according to US officials. The reversal ends a diplomatic standoff between London and Washington, after it was reported last month that the former was likely to withdraw its request following pressure from US vice-president JD Vance.
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Environment secretary Steve Reed has ordered direct oversight of major transport, energy and housing schemes, enabling the government to intervene early to prevent projects being set back by environmental concerns. Ministers plan to step in earlier on developments, such as the expansion of Heathrow airport in London, to resolve issues earlier and avoid spiralling costs, according to a report this morning in The Times.
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Robert Jenrick has been severely criticised by Labour after the shadow justice secretary was pictured at an anti-asylum rally in Essex attended by a veteran far-right activist. Jenrick posted photos on X showing himself visiting the protest outside the Bell hotel in Epping, where police have been attacked and police vehicles vandalised by groups of men taking part in the demonstration. The MP met protesters including a woman with a T-shirt bearing the message: “Send them home.”
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It is “absolutely essential” for the US to be part of European security guarantees for a potential Ukrainian peace deal, but there is “lots more work to be done” on what they will entail, a minister has said. “The really important progress yesterday was on the security guarantees, these issues that the prime minister and president Macron have been leading on within Europe, with 30 countries involved in planning with a coalition of the willing to make sure we can provide those guarantees,” pensions minister Torsten Bell told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
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The number of companies going bust across England and Wales remained elevated last month, new data shows, as pressures intensify for firms grappling with higher costs. Official data from the Insolvency Service showed there were 2,081 company insolvencies in July, edging up by 1% compared with June.
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David Cameron’s “bonfire of the quangos” decision to abolish England’s council spending watchdog has left a broken system that is costing taxpayers more money than it was promised to save. In a highly critical report, academics at the University of Sheffield said the coalition government of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had promised savings of £100m a year by abolishing the Audit Commission.
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Parents in England are skipping meals and turning to buy-now-pay-later services such as Klarna in order to afford school uniforms before the autumn term, according to a survey. Almost half (47%) of the 2,000 parents who took part in the poll said they were worried about uniform costs, which can run into hundreds of pounds due to expensive branded items, while more than a quarter (29%) said they had forgone food or heating to pay for uniforms.
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Exposure to pornography has increased since the introduction of UK rules to protect the public online, with children as young as six seeing it by accident, research by the children’s commissioner for England has found. Dame Rachel de Souza said a survey found that more young people said they had been exposed to pornography before the age of 18 than in 2023, when the Online Safety Act became law.
A Reform UK-led county council is serving a “plate of chaos” as its 22-year-old deputy leader has been removed after three months in the position, the leader of the opposition has said.
PA Media has an interesting account of the soap opera that appears to be Leicestershire county council right now.
It reports that Joseph Boam, who was elected as a Reform councillor for Leicestershire County Council in May, is also no longer cabinet lead member for adult social care and communities, the leader of the Leicestershire Conservatives Deborah Taylor said in a social media post.
Boam, who is councillor for Whitwick in North West Leicestershire, said in a statement on social media:
Despite the recent news, nothing’s changed, I’ll keep fighting for Whitwick at County Hall and doing everything I can to help get a Reform UK government and Nigel Farage as our next prime minister.
The leader of the main opposition to the authority, Taylor, said in a statement released on social media that the Reform-led council is delivering a “shambles”.
She said:
The Reform Administration at Leicestershire County Council has lacked leadership and direction from the very start.
So it comes as no surprise to us that Cllr Joseph Boam has been shown the door after just three months as Deputy Leader of Leicestershire County Council and Cabinet Lead Member for Adults.
Frankly, he was wholly unqualified for such a critical role and lacked the experience or judgment to bring anything of value to the position. Adult Social Care and Communities is one of the most important and challenging portfolios in local government.
It requires steady hands, long-term commitment and a depth of understanding. What it has been given instead is instability, poor judgment, and revolving-door appointments.
At a time when Leicestershire needs stability, vision, and experienced leadership more than ever, residents are being served a plate of chaos. Reform promised change, what they’re delivering is a shambles.
A Reform UK source told PA Media:
Joseph deserves thanks for his role in helping to establish the Reform Group at Leicestershire County Council and we wish him well as he moves into a new role where he will continue to support the group’s efforts at County Hall.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander has told the UK boss of car manufacturer Stellantis she has “serious concerns” about the impact on drivers from its recall of cars.
The company announced an immediate and rare “stop-drive” order for certain models on 20 June because of a potentially fatal airbag safety fault.
In the UK, this is affecting owners of its Citroen and DS Automobiles-branded cars, with many facing several weeks off the road because of difficulties having the issue rectified.
In a letter seen by the PA news agency, Alexander wrote to Eurig Druce, UK group managing director of Stellantis, calling for “immediate steps” to improve the recall process.
This included ensuring all affected owners are “provided with viable alternatives” – whether through courtesy cars, financial compensation or at-home repairs – as existing arrangements are “not meeting expectations”.
She wrote:
I am writing to you to express serious concerns about the customer impact of the stop-drive recall currently affecting Citroen and DS Automobiles cars in the United Kingdom.
While I acknowledge and commend the pace at which Stellantis has initiated and progressed the recall programme, I must make clear that the level of disruption experienced by UK motorists – particularly the most vulnerable – is unacceptable.
I have received numerous reports from Members of Parliament and their constituents detailing distressing experiences, lack of clear guidance, and inadequate support for alternative transport arrangements.
The head of the UK armed forces will travel to the US today for talks about American involvement in security guarantees for Ukraine.
Keir Starmer has sent his chief of the defence staff Tony Radakin to work out details of measures to protect Ukraine after a peace deal is agreed.
The number of companies going bust across England and Wales remained elevated last month, new data shows, as pressures intensify for firms grappling with higher costs.
Official data from the Insolvency Service showed there were 2,081 company insolvencies in July, edging up by 1% compared with June.
The number of compulsory liquidations was slightly higher than in June and up 11% compared with the same month in 2024, PA reported.
Compulsory liquidations happen when a company is forced to close when it cannot pay money owed to creditors.
July’s figure was also a quarter higher than the monthly average across 2024, the data showed.
This summer, as Nosheen Iqbal observes, politicians seem to have started saying things about refugees and migrants that would have been unsayable a decade ago.
Whether it is the shadow justice secretary, Robert Jenrick, writing that he would not want his daughters living near ‘men from backward countries who broke into Britain illegally’, or Reform MPs claiming women in the UK are at risk of being assaulted by men from ‘predominantly Muslim countries’, something seems to have shifted in the way politicians talk about asylum and migration.
Dr Maya Goodfellow analyses this worrying trend in British politics that goes all the way up to the government, with politicians frequently adopting the language of the far right, and identifying asylum seekers as criminal and a threat to young women and girls.
Listen to the Today in Focus podcast here:
Rajeev Syal
Exposure to pornography has increased since the introduction of UK rules to protect the public online, with children as young as six seeing it by accident, research by the children’s commissioner for England has found.
Dame Rachel de Souza said a survey found that more young people said they had been exposed to pornography before the age of 18 than in 2023, when the Online Safety Act became law.
More than a quarter (27%) now said they had seen porn online by 11, with some saying they were “aged six or younger” when asked about their first exposure.
The findings follow on from a similar survey carried out by the children’s commissioner in 2023, and de Souza said they showed that little had improved despite the new law and promises from ministers and tech firms.
Virtual private networks (VPNs) can allow users to disguise their location online and de Souza has said the government must ensure children are not able to use these tools to avoid the age-check process.
The government has previously said that while VPNs are legal in the UK for adults, under the Online Safety Act, platforms have a “clear responsibility to prevent children from bypassing safety protections”.
de Souza told BBC Newsnight:
Of course, we need age verification on VPNs – it’s absolutely a loophole that needs closing and that’s one of my major recommendations.
A government spokesperson said:
Let’s be clear: VPNs are legal tools for adults and there are no plans to ban them. But if platforms deliberately push workarounds like VPNs to children, they face tough enforcement and heavy fines. We will not allow corporate interests to come before child safety.
Ella Creamer
The Irish novelist Sally Rooney could be arrested under the Terrorism Act after saying she intends to use proceeds from her work to support Palestine Action, which was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK last month, a legal expert has warned.
Meanwhile, No 10 said that supporting the group was an offence under the act, after Rooney had made her pledge. It comes as Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called for a review of terrorism legislation following hundreds of arrests in relation to the proscribed group (see post at 9.06am).
Royalties from Rooney’s books, including Normal People and Conversations with Friends, along with BBC adaptations of them, would be used to support Palestine Action, she wrote in the Irish Times over the weekend.
The legal expert also said that the bestselling writer could face prosecution if she were to express her views at, for example, a UK book festival, underscoring the proscription’s “gross disproportionality”.
While the prime minister’s spokesperson would not respond to the author’s comments specifically, they said that there was “a difference between showing support for a proscribed organisation, which is an offence under the Terrorism Act, and legitimate protest in support of a cause”, according to the Press Association.
Asked what message No 10 would give to people considering donating money to Palestine Action, the spokesperson said: “Support for a proscribed organisation is an offence under the Terrorism Act and obviously the police will, as they have set out, implement the law as you’d expect.”
More than 700 people have been arrested under the Terrorism Act in relation to the group since it was proscribed in early July, many of whom were detained at a peaceful protest on 9 August in Parliament Square, London.
Keir Starmer has returned to Scotland after his family holiday was interrupted by crunch talks on Ukraine in Washington DC.
The prime minister’s plane flew from the US to Glasgow overnight following the White House discussions, landing on Tuesday morning, PA reported.
The bloke just can’t catch a break when it comes to getting away for a bit of sun – or “light cloud”, as per today’s forecast for Scotland.
This is the second summer in a row that his holiday plans have been disrupted after he cancelled a European trip last August when rioting broke out in the UK and tensions escalated in the Middle East.
The prime minister also delayed his departure for a trip last Christmas following the death of his brother aged 60 who had been suffering from cancer.
Keir Starmer is a “patriot” who supports the public displaying of the England flag, his official spokesperson claimed amid an apparent row over councils removing flags from lamp-posts.
Downing Street said that the prime minister sees national pride as “an important thing,” in response to controversy over recent decisions by two councils to remove English and British flags, The Telegraph reported.
In the past two weeks, local authorities in Tower Hamlets, east London, and Birmingham have announced plans to take down Union and St George’s flags from lamp-posts. Meanwhile, Worcestershire county council – notably led by (checks notes) Reform UK – claimed on Monday that hanging such flags from lamp-posts could pose a risk to life.
The No 10 spokesman said:
I haven’t asked him about specific cases of specific councils. But what the prime minister has always talked about is pride in being British, his patriotism in that – not least with the Lionesses in the Euros – and patriotism will always be an important thing to him.
Asked whether Starmer thought people should put up English and British flags, he said:
Absolutely. Patriotism, putting up English flags … we put up English flags all around Downing Street every time the English football team, the women’s and men’s, are around.
Worcestershire became the third council to express opposition to the flags when a spokesman said St George and Union flags hung from lamp-posts in Wythall risked endangering pedestrians and motorists.
Karl Perks, Worcestershire’s Reform UK cabinet member for highways, said the flags could be “dangerous”, adding: “Climbing up lamp-posts and attaching flags to them may not be the best thing to do, mostly because it’s dangerous and could cause damage. There are no specific plans to remove the flags.”
He advised that people would be better off displaying their flags “in your own front and back gardens, on your cars, in your windows and on community buildings where agreed by the whole community”.
