Palestine Action proscription sets dangerous precedent

Palestine Action's response was clear: 'Today we exposed Britain's direct involvement in the ­genocide, and how ordinary people can act to stop it. In ­response, the political establishment rushes to call us 'terrorists', while they enact the worst crimes against humanity. No amount of smears or intimidation ­tactics will waver our solidarity with Palestine. We will break every link in the genocidal supply chain.'
They deserve all of our immediate solidarity.
The basis of the 'outrage' is that moral ­authority rests with the state, with the military, and not with citizens, ordinary people – you and I. That is an ­absurdist claim to make given both the history of the British state and what we have been watching unfold before our eyes for many years, grotesquely ­intensified since October 7, 2023.
The shocking level of state violence by Israel is now spooling outwards having legislative effects on its own backers as the level of internal repression in the West amplifies. Just as the 'conflict' is spreading throughout the region, the violence is coming home.
A History of Authoritarianism
THE roots of this descent into authoritarianism and the criminalisation of legitimate protest go back decades. When to date it from? The idea that at least 139 undercover officers spied on more than 1000 political groups between 1968 and 2010? The idea floated, amid her chaotic regime of 'domestic extremists' that was put out by prime minister Theresa May, including that people advocating a Scottish democracy should be equated with ISIS? (see On Separatists and Extremists – if you don't believe me).
We know from the spycops scandal that this has a deep history. We now know that a body called the SPL (Subversion in Public Life) was established in the 1980s comprising senior civil servants, MI5 and Special Branch. This sought to control and blacklist trade unionists.
READ MORE: UK Government 'set to proscribe Palestine Action after RAF protest'
Whenever you put your mark in Britain's long ­descent into authoritarianism, cheered on by the ­rabid tabloids, we are where we are, and it is a ­Labour Government enacting this.
The absurdity of it all would make your head swivel. As the writer Ben Wray has said: 'Britain is a country where those wanted by the ICC for war crimes write columns in The Times and those ­resisting genocide get proscribed as 'terrorists'. A deeply malevolent, ­authoritarian country.'
If you can be proscribed as a terrorist ­organisation for vandalism and breaking and entering, then the UK is in a very dangerous place indeed, one where ­categories of behaviour, and real threat and ­criminality elide into a confusion, a mess of ­unfocused outrage. Except there is no outrage for what is being done on our behalf by a political elite divorced from reality, detached from the people, and wholly captured by powers they don't disclose.
This is a travesty of contemporary Britain, but ­sadly, not a surprise.
What is required of you is your silence, your ­obedience. What is required of you is a sullen ­compliance: do nothing at all, look away. Yet ­Palestine Action say simply: 'Ordinary people can take military planes out of service, destroy weapons inside arms factories and pressure companies to end their complicity. We are not powerless. Through ­direct action, we can break the global genocidal ­supply chain.'
Isn't it funny how, if people stand up to tyranny elsewhere, far away, or long ago, we celebrate it – the crowd starting the boos against Nicolae Ceaușescu, the man standing in front of tanks in Tiananmen Square, the civil rights leaders opposing brutality in the south of America, the ANC fighting apartheid. Yet here we are, encouraged to criminalise protest against genocide and quietly being drawn into the condemnation. It's insidious how this happens, and how susceptible we are to believing that genocide is ­justified, that dehumanising people is acceptable, that war crimes should be ignored, that ethnic cleansing is a ... solution.
Never again.
But the brutal reality is that what is going on has been foreshadowed and everyone knows it.
As I wrote a year ago: 'The Police, Crime, ­Sentencing and Courts Bill has ­effectively ushered in a police state. Even as the ­undercover policing inquiry continues to reveal appalling abuses by police spying on peaceful campaigners – the police are being given new unprecedented powers of arrest and surveillance.'
As George Monbiot has pointed out: 'These are the state-of-emergency laws you would expect in the aftermath of a coup. But there is no public order e­mergency, just an emergency of another kind, that the protesters targeted by this legislation are trying to stop – the collapse of Earth systems. We are being compelled by law to accept the destruction of the ­living world.'
And so the much-derided 'omnicause' – a fantasy coined by the gammon right and its adjacent dullards ­pontificating from their blogs. or their Times ­columns. or the pulpits of outrage in various ­Scottish comics. The Omnicause is ­capitalism and no doubt you will be ­celebrating the latest 'crackdown' as you celebrated the last.
A generation is waking up to the links between imperialism, settler ­colonialism, extractivism and the ­doomsday cult ­currently arguing in favour of ­'re-opening the coal mines' and 'drill, baby, drill'. This awakening is terrifying and the scribes and sycophants who man the newsbeat are springing into action to act out their duties.
One of the things that is terrifying about people making common cause across struggles and causes is that, for far too long, the left has been hidebound by single-issue politics played out in isolation. Solidarity is terrifying to the ruling class. Consciousness, more so.
Everyone who speaks out will be smeared. We know the playbook from the meakest mildest questioner to the more militant protester, they will all be dragged into the dirt. The targets are as varied as make the point, from ­Labour leaders such as Harold Wilson, Neil ­Kinnock, Tony Benn, Michael Foot or Jeremy ­Corbyn, to activists such as ­Greta ­Thunberg, Smári McCarthy, ­Julian ­Assange or protest movements from Greenham Common through to the ­Pollok Free State.
You don't have to agree with these ­individuals or causes (or indeed give them a free pass on their individual ­behaviours) to see the connection ­between 'threat' and 'response', which is incompatible with living in a functioning democracy.
Knowledge is Not Power
UNLIKE previous atrocities and ­genocide, we know everything. Despite the media bias and the ceaseless Israeli propaganda, despite the front-loading of Western democracies with vast sums of dark money, despite the continual ­framing and curation of 'narrative', we still know everything.
Our response is on a spectrum from internalising rage; reflective impotence; turning away; taking part in sometimes meaningless activities (clicktivism, petitions, letter writing); to marches and ­protests (also sadly, and brutally often meaningless); through to more direct ­actions. At the another end (sort of) of the spectrum is switching off; turning off; turning away; masking, or hyper-consumerism. But the chant of 'while you were shopping the bombs were dropping' as a 'J'accuse' of the hyper consumer is ­darkly poignant but also pointless.
READ MORE: Labour blasted as 'deeply authoritarian' over plans to proscribe Palestine Action
In this context, Palestine Action, like ­climate activists have taken a stand against the modern horrors, and been criminalised for it. From ­spray-painting buildings of those corporations most invested in fossil fuels through to ­spray-painting 'two military planes with red paint'.
Our response to the Home Secretary proscribing Palestine Action as a ­terrorist action must be one of solidarity. This can be expressed by condemnation, financial support, or amplifying their voice. The alternative is giving up and giving in, ­remaining silent as our rights are stripped away. This is yet another Niemöller ­Moment.
The Zone of Interest
OUR response to protest has been conditioned by the media's shaping of climate action protests which we have learned to snear at and condemn. As the climate catastrophe accelerates, the relationship between 'reality' and the imagined world closes. Hot right now? When you realise that this will be the coolest ­summer you'll ever remember, that might hit home.
Equally, as the level of state violence intensifies and the efforts to mask, hide or propagandise the horrors fail, the ­'actionists', as they call themselves, must be criminalised and demonised.
Systems breakdown and failure can only be responded to with violence and repression, it seems. It's not clear what course correction or event might change this feeling of inevitable descent. ­Nothing exemplifies this more than the idea of people resenting being able to 'go about their business' as if daily life can just trundle on amidst the horror. And it can, no doubt.
As Paul Kearns writes in the Irish Times: 'June is here. Summer has ­arrived. And the beaches in Tel Aviv are full. Just an hour's drive away, two million ­Palestinians are on the brink of starvation. The incongruity of those few words and the bizarre contrast of ­imagery – the busy beach in Tel Aviv, the dystopia in Gaza – are hard to digest, I imagine, for many in Ireland. They are perhaps ­shocking, incomprehensible, and ­sickening even.
'This, however, is the reality of life, and of course death, here in Israel and nearby Gaza.'
For Ireland, read Scotland. This is the ambience of atrocity and its mirror, the 'fascist feeling'.
It is, and this is deeply ­uncomfortable to say, the land depicted in Zone Of ­Interest, the Academy Award-winning film by Jonathan Glazer which is a study in complicity, banality and the human ability to zone out and turn away from atrocity in pursuit of self-interest.
The film is inspired by the real life of ­Rudolf Höss, commandant of the ­Auschwitz concentration camp. The film follows Höss's idyllic domestic life with his wife Hedwig, and ­children, which unfolds in a stately home and garden ­immediately adjacent to the ­concentration camp. Glazer has ­described his characters not as monsters but as 'non-thinking, ­bourgeois, ­aspirational-careerist horrors, people who manage to turn profound evil into white noise'.
READ MORE: Owen Jones: Opposing Israeli violence is 'extremist'? The world's upside down
It sounds dismally familiar, though the class issue is a distinction worth noticing.
Palestine Action reject being drawn into the Zone Of Interest, and urge us all to do the same. They may be imprisoned under a wave of collective indifference, but the issues aren't going away. They can be put in jail but what they are ­objecting to can't be so easily swept away.
In our silo culture, different issues ­compete for our attention, the needle of our moral compass and our political ­energy. But in today's meta-crisis these ­silos are collapsing before us.
These ­issues pervade not just our ­coming Holyrood elections but our ­wider society and all of the interactions we are supported by – the modern 'enslaved ­people' who support Western lifestyle; the colonial foundations of modern wealth; the reality of global south-to-north climate relations, and the ­witnessing of contemporary genocide in Palestine.
As Pankaj Mishra, wrote in The Shoah After Gaza, published in the London ­Review of Books (in 2024): 'Every day is poisoned by the awareness that while we go about our lives, hundreds of ordinary people like ourselves are being murdered, or being forced to witness the murder of their children.
'Adding that, Biden's stubborn malice and cruelty to the Palestinians is just one of the gruesome riddles presented to us by Western politicians and journalists.'
If we struggle to absorb these atrocities, it's hard not to buckle under the impression of helplessness, and turn away from the horror. That is the profound message of Palestine Action, and many others like them.
As Naomi Klein writes of the film The Zone Of Interest's haunting message: 'It's not that these people don't know that an industrial-scale killing machine whirs just beyond their garden wall. They have simply learned to lead contented lives with ambient genocide.
'Glazer has repeatedly stressed that his film's subject is not the Holocaust, with its well-known horrors and ­historical ­particularities, but something more ­enduring and pervasive – the human ­capacity to live with holocausts and other atrocities, to make peace with them, draw benefit from them.'
The situation on the ground is getting worse, if worse can be imagined. Israel's attack on Iran, and America's imminent 'support' (if that is the case) has given a cover of darkness and misdirection.
Amnesty International yesterday stated that: 'With the world looking elsewhere, the militarisation of aid adds another layer to Israel's deliberate imposition of genocidal conditions against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and injured at or near aid distribution points since ­Israel's weaponised 'humanitarian' aid distribution system was imposed at the end of May. Families are being forced into an impossible choice: die of hunger or die trying to get food. Seeking food should never be a death trap. Israel must end its genocide and lift the blockade now.'
Palestine Action has decreed that, 'We will break every link in the genocidal supply chain', but what's becoming clear is that our silence, our indifference, is part of that supply chain. They ­challenge the very idea that Israel is insatiable, ­unstoppable and omnipotent and we are powerless and our position hopeless. In that they are hugely important, both symbolically and actually. The moment demands we learn from their example.
And what next? The behaviour of ­Israel and our unconditional support seems to have no end, no threshold. The 'war' is escalating and we, 'Britain', are being dragged further into it, despite ­widespread public revulsion for it.
As the journalist Jonathan Cook points out: 'The claim that Israel is 'defending itself' in ­attacking Iran – promoted by France, Germany, Britain, the European Union, the G7 and the US – should be understood as a further assault on the foundational principles of international law.
'The assertion is premised on the idea that Israel's attack was ­'pre-emptive' – potentially justified if Israel could show there was an imminent, credible and ­severe threat of an attack or invasion by Iran that could not be averted by other means. And yet, even assuming there is evidence to support Israel's claim it was in imminent danger – there isn't – the very fact that Iran was in the midst of talks with the US about its nuclear ­programme voided that justification.
'Rather, Israel's contention that Iran posed a threat at some point in the future that needed to be neutralised counts as a 'preventive' war – and is indisputably illegal under international law.'
If the proscribing of Palestine Action is an inflection point, so too is the idea that we might support Israel on a new front against Iran. This is a dangerous moment in which we must mobilise a peace movement that joins with the ­anti-imperialist movement and those fighting the war against nature and humanity.

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By-election June 2025 – Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart

A by-election will be held this week to fill the vacant council seat in Edinburgh following the sudden death of Labour councillor, Val Walker in April. Polling stations will be open from 7am to 10pm on Thursday 26 June 22025 and will be positioned at: Kingsknowe Golf Club Edinburgh Corn Exchange St Michaels Church Hall Fountainbridge Library Boroughmuir Rugby & Community Sports Club Craiglockhart Parish Church Hall Tollcross Community Centre The electronic election count will take place on Thursday 26 June starting at the close of poll at 10pm. The candidates standing for election are as follows: Bonnie Prince Bob, Independent Derrick Emms, Independent Lukasz Furmaniak, Scottish Libertarian Party Mark Hooley, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Richard Crewe Lucas, Scottish Family Party Q Manivannan, Scottish Greens Kevin Joseph McKay, Scottish Liberal Democrats Catriona Munro, Scottish Labour Party Gary Neill, Reform UK Mark Rowbotham, Independent Murray Visentin, Scottish National Party (SNP) Steve Christopher West, Independent Marc Wilkinson, Independent Council Ward 9 Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart The ward stretches from Haymarket west to Colinton Dell. It is as diverse as most others in the city and includes part of the Union Canal, Easter Craiglockhart Hill Local Nature Reserve and the main campus for Edinburgh Napier University. In 2022 at the Local Government election the electorate was 18,284 and there was a 49.8% turnout. Three councillors were elected – Cllr David Key (SNP), Cllr Christopher Cowdy (Conservative) and Cllr Val Walker (Labour). We have interviewed some of the candidates either online or face to face – but here is a breakdown of what we know about all 13 in alphabetical order: Bonnie Prince Bob, Independent Bob is a serial candidate in Edinburgh. He stood in the last two by-elections in Colinton/Fairmilehead. In the last by-election he gathered support from 30 voters in the ward which has an electorate of 19,669. He also stood in the 2021 Scottish Parliamentary election where he lost to Angus Robertson MSP who won the Edinburgh Central seat with 16,276 votes. Bob won 363 votes on that occasion which was 0.9% of the poll. He describes himself as a 'professional political commentator /producer & presenter of #What the X Scotland's most dynamic livestream' and encourages voters to 'Stop electing party political parasites'. Click here to see his social media presence on X. You can watch the unboxing of his campaign leaflets here: Bonnie Prince Bob an Independent candidate in Edinburgh Central with Lady A and Lady B ©2021 The Edinburgh Reporter Derrick Emms, Independent Derrick Emms is an independent candidate who is standing in a loose coalition with two of the other 13 candidates, Marc Wilkinson and Mark Rowbotham (see below). He encourages voters not to elect politicians but rather to elect a team. So if you vote for Mr Emms then the three would work together. He said in a statement to voters: 'Let's set aside party-political differences and come together.' While Wilkinson is declared to be the front-runner, Derrick Emms said he would hold twice weekly surgeries open to all – on Fridays and Saturdays in Fountainbridge Library. He would have the help of the other two independent candidates as 'case workers'. His statement continues: 'Our plan is to come 4th in the twelve wards that elect four Councillors and 3rd in the five wards that elect three. Seventeen Councillors would make us the largest party in the City Chambers as we would have taken these seats from the current five parties. At our surgeries we will represent constituents from all of Edinburgh's Wards. We will help constituents coordinate with each other to lobby their respective Councillors as a team making them more effective. We will make the petition feature on our website which is designed for petitioning elected representatives available. This will transform representative democracy.' Lukasz Furmaniak, Scottish Libertarian Party Lukasz Furmaniak is Polish and has been in the UK for 14 years. He used to work in hospitality but is now a private hire car driver. He wants politics to 'come back to common sense'. He is most exercised by planters which impede progress for drivers on the city's streets. He said: 'We believe that people should decide for themselves if they want to use the cars or not. If they want to use the bus, we are very happy they use the buses. If they want to walk or cycle, we're very happy when they do that. But at the end of the day, it should be their own choice, not imposed by the overlords.' He continued: 'What I believe is that it's time for us to review all the rules and make them simplified, easier to follow 'We all can see there's road works everywhere all year around. Charlotte Square was like that five times last year – closed for a stretch of 200 yards. 'Corstorphine Road – four times in 15 months it was closed again. And there's all the potholes and everything. Why are all the jobs not done in one go? I don't really understand that.' But he would do nothing to affect public libraries or schools saying 'I believe in all this spending – libraries are probably the best choice we can have'. But most of all it is about common sense. He said: 'The biggest thing I'm campaigning on is just come back to common sense – as simple as that. Stop doubling down on the ideas that don't really work and don't help anyone, but they are just, I guess, a vanity project of the councillors. Just to come back to actually sorting the problems rather than creating a new one.' Libertarians have little time for rules. Instead the party is in favour of individual liberty, a free and sound economy, foreign neutrality and political independence. The Scottish Libertarian Party holds a social event every second Sunday. Mark Hooley, Scottish Conservative and Unionist For Mark Hooley a local who has lived in the area for the past ten years, it is all about 'the basics'. He said: 'The theme of the campaign is back to basics. You probably hear going around really popular is fixing the roads, the potholes, you know, the bin collections, but these sort of basics, the weeding, it's just really the theme is kind of the council sometimes forgetting to do the basics for the residents that live here. you know, if some people, they maybe don't understand why. He said: 'There's money to do trams and everything, but the day-to-day basics are getting missed. It is no wonder that people have a bit of disillusionment when they see that. There is usually a bit less of a turnout during by-elections, but I would say there has been a little bit of apathy in vernal about politics.' He explained that he has always loved politics – his father was an SNP supporter. He grew up in the Parkgrove area of the city, studied politics in Dundee and then lived in the US and in Holland. Currently he is studying for a MSc in Journalism at Edinburgh Napier University, and he ran as a Conservative candidate in the Sighthill/Gorgie ward in the 2022 council elections when he attracted 986 first preference votes. He said that he is not a career politician, just 'a regular guy who wants to get involved and is passionate about it'. Reflecting on the lower number of Conservative councillors at the City Chambers after the 2022 election he said that a win here would help to 'chip away' to get back to where the council group was before. He was complimentary to Conservative councillor, Christopher Cowdy who represents the Fountainbruidge/Craiglockhart ward along with SNP councillor, David Key, saying: 'Chris Cowdy is one of the councillors for the ward currently. He's very visible, very vocal, he's very well liked and trusted in the area and known as someone who can get things done and is very responsive. So I would be looking to work together with him and to really reflect residents concerns and the day-to-day stuff.' @edinreporter Mark Hooley is the Scottish Conservative candidate in the June 2025 council by-election in Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart Here he explains a bit of his personal background to the Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter. #edinburghnews #edinburghlocalnews #hyperlocalnews #councilbyelection ♬ original sound – EdinReporter Mark Hooley centre with his Conservative supporters out campaigning PHOTO courtesy of Miles Briggs Richard Crewe Lucas, Scottish Family Party Richard Lucas is the Scottish Family Party candidate who has stood at a range of elections in the past few years. He stood in the Colinton/Fairmilehead ward in the 2022 council elections when he achieved 65 votes – and got the same number of votes in January 2025. Mr Lucas hs lived in Colinton for over 25 years, teaching at Merchiston Castle School for most of that time. The party values are: 'Families are the building blocks of a healthy society. The government's job is to support and encourage stable family life, for the sake of children, adults and the wider society.' The party promotes marriage as the best way to lay the foundation for society – but only heterosexual marriage. 'The commitment of marriage helps ensure that a child benefits from the distinct and complementary parenting of their mother and father, a male and female role model in the family home, and the sense of identity that naturally flows from relatedness.' They do not believe in same sex marriage as it does not embody these ideals. Richard Lucas Scottish Family Party candidate Q Manivannan, Scottish Greens Q Manivannan is from the Tamil community and was born in India in 1997, making their home in Scotland since 2021. Q has worked in the United Nations, in trade unions, voluntary organisations, and as an award-winning scholar in universities. Q has won the Kavya Prize for Scottish writers of colour in 2023 and co-convenes the Palestine Solidarity Group for the Scottish Greens. Q said that as an academic at St Andrews University and as a policy expert they have experience of community organising. Projects which they have supported include road safety, pedestrian crossings and tenants rights. Q plans to focus on stricter speed limits and improved infrastructure for disability access if elected. Attracted to the Green Party by its focus on individual expression and environmental conservation, other matters of importance to them include voter transparency and inclusion. Q said: 'My main principles have been around building more inclusive governance structures, particularly ones where residents and voters are more involved with democratic processes from the get go and through different stages of policies and motions. But at the same time, focusing on the very local issues I know we've had in our area, like resident safety alongside along alongside the canal path, for instance, or traffic and road safety along Ashley Terrace where the pedestrian crosssing has been overdue there for 20 years, Harrison Road and Yeamen Place. Lastly of course preserving our green and blue spaces because it feels like a fair few spaces around the city as well as in our ward are under threat.' In relation to some matters these could be solved more easily with a collaborative approach. Q said: 'I think it's also important that issues like road safety as well as tenants rights are across parties. I feel like they're more logistical concerns regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum. I think Cllr Val Walker was excellent in that sense almost removing the more dramatic politics out of it and focussing on the local issues and communities.' Q is involved with fundraising for Palestine running a music and culture event each month in Marchmont. Through that organisation they have been able to help local businesses having troubles with the council about tables and chairs placed outside. Q said: 'It was good to work with them to find solutions to that.' Q has also been part of the activism around pensions and pay cuts for tutors and paid staff members in St Andrews and Edinburgh. At the end of the interview Q said : 'I would begin with bette infrastructural changes and audits for disability as well as mobility. There's been a lot of concerns raised around roads as well as on the Canal Path and other parts of Fountainbridge /Craiglockhrt not being accessible, whether it's for the elderly or it's for pram pushers. I think, is a significant concern that leads to other safety issues, and that would be right on top of my to do list to begin with.' Q Manivannan Kevin Joseph McKay, Scottish Liberal Democrats The Scottish Liberal Democrats announced Mr McKay as their candidate in May like this: 'An environmental campaigner, Kevin spent a career tackling pollution issues in the water industry. If elected, he would join a City Chambers Lib Dem team fighting for road safety, investment in schools, and fixing our pavements and roads!' Catriona Munro, Scottish Labour Party Catriona Munro Labour candidate Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart Catriona Munro has been a lawyer for the last 30 years, most recently a competition lawyer. Now that retirement is fast approaching she is looking to be an elected member of the council. Ms Munro explained that her parents were lifelong activists for the Labour Party, and she was born on an election day when her father was a Westminster candidate. He didn't ever get elected but she said: 'I feel as though I'm an election baby. I've always loved elections and I relish campaigning. It's great fun.' Brought up in Brussels, Ms Munro said she doesn't have a strong Scottish accent, but she lives in the city. Asked what she is campaigning on she replied: 'People are concerned about the very basic things, that the potholes are very annoying, that there are lots of issues around parking. People raise questions over access to new developments. I had someone who who is concerned about their their road becoming busy because it was going to be used to access a new development. 'Now, of course, we need new housing, but we also need to respect people's views and then other people concerned about the introduction of controlled parking zones. So it's welcome to some people, but not to others, and it's a question of making sure that those voices are all heard and that the most appropriate way of introducing those controlled parking zones is used.' She cited the positive contribution and local impact of two Labour councillors elected in 2022 – Cllr Scott Arthur and Cllr Val Walker. The usual topics of ootholes, parking issues and underfunding all came up during our interview when she explained the difference Cllr Walker made in securing funding for DanceBase. Ms Munro agreed that Cllr Walker will be a hard act to follow, but she thinks she could fill her shoes. She said that many local people had met Cllr Walker during her short time as a councillor – and some people in the area had met Val several times – often in their homes – about their issues. Catriona said: 'It is good to know that work on the ground really makes a difference, that people notice it. You're right these are big shoes to fill but I think it means the groundwork of having a well-liked councillor has been done.' Gary Neill, Reform UK Gary Neill Reform UK candidate Gary Neill is the Reform UK candidate standing in this by-election. The grandfather from Northern Ireland said he is standing for the sake of his grandchildren. He explained: 'I've been a member of Reform for about three years. I've been a Tory voter all my life, but the last lot of years, it's got very disenchanting. 'The biggest thing we need to take control of is the amount of money that we spend and the amount of tax that we raise. This country has been borrowing month on month, year on year. And we are rolling up the most enormous debt for our grandchildren to deal with. So that's what drives me.' Asked what he would seek to influence in the council he said it was simple: 'We need to start looking at the way The City of Edinburgh Council is run. Even in my short term, and exposure to the statistics and there is in your face waste.' He suggests selling off any council-owned buildings and land which are not required or used, and is vocal in his campaign leaflet about the 'state of Edinburgh roads'. He said: 'I'm in and out of Edinburgh Airport quite a bit and honest to goodness taking people back into the centre of town your back is put out with the state of the roads.' He said that he has had a career in sales, has travelled the world and is now retired. He feels that his experience can now be put to use. He said: 'My entire time has been in the commercial sector, in the private sector, where it is very competitive, very tough. But, I think I can use that in the public sector. And I'm fortunate that I have the time to pursue this – and I feel quite driven to do so.' Finally he is incensed that the council should only be concerned about local matters. He said that in a previous set of council papers from March there were motions about Palestine and Gaza – 'not one of them anything to do with Edinburgh'. He said: 'I think our elected representatives, of which I hope to be one, should actually concentrate and focus on running the city without getting involved in stuff they have no knowledge of. It might even be said that it's virtue signalling to look good in front of their people. I don't know, I don't care. It's nothing to do with running Edinburgh.' He is new to politics and says he has quickly learned that the electorate is very fickle. He said: 'They'll tell you one thing and they'll do something else. We learned that just last month at Hamilton where a lot of volunteers for Reform were helping the excellent candidate that we have, Ross Lambie. The media didn't say it, but they knew it was a two horse race, the SNP and Reform. We knew it was a two horse race. Yeah. Yeah. And then bang out of nowhere comes Labour and it flummoxed all of us.' Mr Neill has been out twice daily in the ward with his supporters visiting as many people as possible in the ward. He said: 'As much as Reform is enjoying a fairly high profile nationally, we've got to try and make that a local message, I feel pretty good about it. It;s a good challenge and I'm enjoying it.' Gary Neill is the @ candidate for the council by-election in Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart. Here he outlines just one way he thinks the council could do better — The Edinburgh Reporter (@ 2025-06-22T12:52:45.692Z Mark Rowbotham, Independent Mr Rowbotham is standing as an independent candidate in collaboration with Marc Wilkinson and Derrick Emms. HIs stance is the same as the other two candidates : Don't elect politicians Elect People Elect a Team #1 Marc Wilkinson #2 Mark Rowbotham #3 Derrick Emms… Edinburgh Council By-election, Thursday 26th June 2025, 7am-10pm Everyone in the Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart ward has a reason to vote now Let's set aside party-political differences and come together.' Murray Visentin, Scottish National Party (SNP) Murray Visentin SNP candidate Murray Visentin is manager in Asda Chesser and although a relative newcomer to politics he knows the price of shopping – and said that it is the basics which matter. He explained that the price of milk depends on some variables – whether or not it is branded and according to size. The Visentin household buys the four litre size as it includes Murray, his wife, their four children and two cats. He said his candidacy has been 'a long time coming' but when this possibility came up he jumped at the chance. His support of independence is key and he has been an activist since he was a teenager. He joined the SNP in 2014. He feels he could make a difference in the council and said: 'I'm confident to take people's views on board and talk about them, regardless whether they fall in line with SNP values or anybody else's values. 'Local politics is different from national politics. It's about the people more than the actual polici. Of course, I'm going to vote with the group. I'm going to be an SNP councillor and would huave to do that, but it doesn't mean I can't have a voice for my neighbors and the family members and my friends in the ward as well.' He said that politics for local residents is about more than just the price of shopping. It is also about educaiton and local travel as well as green space. He lives in Hutchison and holds the Hutchison Community Garden up as a model project which along with organised litter picking 'makes a difference in local communities in a big way'. He said: 'I think that it's a svery family orientated ward. You've got a mixed batch of different sort of political affiliations. You've got different sorts of demographics as well that we need to be appealing to and helping. So if you go up to Craiglockhart way you've got more affluent people. It's the day to day things. It's the cost of living for some people. It's education for their kids. It's having a voice for somebody that knows the neighborhood, knows the ward, to be able to go to the council and be in the chambers and say, Look, these are my people. These are the people that need help.' Steve Christopher West, Independent Steve West is a trade union activist in the PCS civil service workers' union. He describes himself as an independent socialist and told The Socialist Worker that he is campaigning against the £2.2 million cuts proposed by the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board. He said: 'There has to be someone in this election who is against cuts and racism.' He believes that this cut in funding would result in '200 compulsory redundancies and cuts to valuable services'. He said he will stand 'against austerity', against attacks on benefits and against attacks on trans+ rights. He is using TikTok as a way of getting his election message out to voters. His latest video has a simple message – 'No to cuts, end austerity, tax the rich, fund public services migrants are not to blame,, no to racism welfare not warfare, end the genocide, Free Palestine – for a real left alternative vote for me, Steve West.' Marc Wilkinson, Independent Marc is also someone who has stood in the last two council by-elections as well as three others. He has created his own 'party' called Edinburgh and East Lothian People although he is standing as an Independent candidate. He wants everyone in the ward to have a reason to vote, and believes that he can fix party politics by stopping the party whip and allowing elected politicians to have a free vote. He explains that he grew his vote share in the January 2025 by-election when 494 people supported him. He said this was a +79% increase in vote share compared to the November by-election. He is leader of Edinburgh and East Lothian People as well as seven other new parties in other areas of Scotland. and claims that this could mean that the party would return one MSP in each region if the party attracts just 6% of the vote. He would work alongside Derrick Emms and Mark Rowbotham to represent the constituency. Like this: Like Related

Telegraph

an hour ago

• Telegraph

Palestine Action protesters ‘pose threat to MPs'

The security of MPs and peers is at risk from a protest outside Parliament by Palestine Action against its proscription as a terrorist organisation, a former Government adviser has warned. Lord Walney, the Government's former adviser on political violence, urged Scotland Yard to take a tougher approach to protests outside Parliament. The Palestine Action demonstration takes place on Monday. He said there was growing concern following a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside Parliament two weeks ago, which saw peers 'harassed, intimidated and obstructed'. Some 60 peers have written to Lord McFall, the Lord Speaker, calling for a review of security arrangements around Parliament with Scotland Yard and parliamentary officials. The appeal comes just three days after Palestine Action activists breached security at the Brize Norton RAF base and sprayed paint into the engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is expected to confirm plans on Monday to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, putting it on a par with Hamas, Al-Qaeda and Islamic state. It would mean anyone supporting the group could face up to 14 years in prison. Palestine Action has posted on social media a call to supporters to join an 'emergency mobilisation' at the Houses of Parliament at 12pm on Monday, with the headline 'We are all Palestine Action'. Lord Walney said: 'MPs and peers look like they have to run the gauntlet just to get into Parliament to exercise their democratic duty on behalf of the nation. This is putting their security at risk and clearly undermining democracy, where parliamentarians feel they are afraid to go to work. 'The Met have frankly let people down recently in the way they have allowed crowds to physically intimidate people trying to get access to Parliament. There is a real responsibility for them to change their approach for this protest. 'Palestine Action is an organisation set to be banned as a terrorist organisation, which is connected to a number of trials going through the system involving serious violence against individuals.' Jonathan Hall KC, the Government's independent adviser on terrorism legislation, said that proscription of Palestine Action was 'within the bounds of acceptability' even though it was on the basis of the scale of damage to significant infrastructure including military equipment rather than against individuals. 'All other terrorist organisations are banned or proscribed because they are using or threatening violence to people. This is an unusual one in this respect,' he said. However, he suggested that Palestine Action had tipped over into 'blackmail' rather than purely protest. 'It's gone to a point where they've started to say, we will carry on causing hundreds of millions of pounds worth of damage unless you stop,' said Mr Hall. 'And I think the way the law approaches that, there's a difference between protest and effectively, blackmail.' However, Lord Falconer, a former Labour lord chancellor, said vandalising aircraft at RAF Brize Norton would not solely provide legal justification for proscribing Palestine Action. Asked whether the group's actions were 'commensurate with the need to proscribe an organisation', he told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News: 'I am not aware of what Palestine Action has done beyond the painting of things on the planes in Brize Norton. They may have done other things I didn't know. 'I think the question will probably not be what we know about them publicly, but there would need to be something that was known by those who look at these sorts of things that we don't know about, because I mean they got into the air base, which might suggest they've got some degree of ability to make them dangerous, I don't know. 'But generally, that sort of demonstration wouldn't justify proscription, so there must be something else that I don't know about.' Met Police sources said officers will be deployed to the protest at Parliament on Monday to ensure MPs and peers could continue to safely enter the estate. Officers are currently reviewing intelligence as to whether any additional public order measures were needed.

Leader Live

2 hours ago

• Leader Live

Iran already carrying out ‘wholly unacceptable' actions in UK, Reynolds warns

Jonathan Reynolds said Iranian activity in the UK is already substantial and it would be 'naive' to think it will not escalate. The Business Secretary said 'not a week goes by' without Iran targeting cyber attacks on the UK's critical national infrastructure. Both MI5 and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) have warned about Iran's activities. The head of MI5, Ken McCallum, said in October that authorities had stopped 20 state-backed plots hatched by Iran in the UK since 2022. He warned of an 'unprecedented pace and scale' of plots posing 'potentially lethal threats' to British citizens and UK residents. The NCSC has warned Iran 'is developing its cyber capabilities and is willing to target the UK to fulfil its disruptive and destructive objectives'. Mr Reynolds told Sky News the risk from Iran in the UK is 'not hypothetical'. He said: 'There is not a week goes by without some sort of Iranian cyber attack on a key part of the UK's critical national infrastructure. There is Iranian activity on the streets of the UK, which is wholly unacceptable. 'It's already at a significant level. I think it would be naive to say that that wouldn't potentially increase. The number of state threat investigations run by MI5 has jumped by 48% in the last year. Countries like Iran use proxies to carry out lethal plots on UK soil – we must act. Those carrying out activity for Iran in the UK must declare it or risk facing up to 5 years in prison. — Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) March 6, 2025 'But again, there's a choice here for Iran: Do they want to continue being an agent of instability in the region and the wider world? Where has that got them? Where has it got the Iranian people? 'There's a better course of action for Iran to take here, and I think they should consider that.' Iran was the first foreign power to be listed on the enhanced tier of the foreign influence registration scheme, aimed at protecting the UK from malign foreign influence. It means anyone who is directed by Iran to carry out activities in the UK must declare it or face five years in prison. The scheme is due to come into force in July. The Home Office will also introduce new laws that will allow the UK to proscribe state-based groups such as Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. In the latest sign of Iran's actions against the UK, it emerged on Saturday that authorities in Cyprus have arrested a Briton alleged to have been carrying out surveillance of the RAF Akrotiri base on the island.