Serious issues raised by Palestine Action decision

Decision by Court of Appeal raises serious issues about our rights

June 2026

The dreadful decision by the Appeal Court last week raises issues way beyond the matter of Palestine Action and whether or not they are terrorists. On 15 June they upheld the decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. As Liberty has argued “This judgement risks paving the way for current and future governments to use counterterror powers against non-terrorist groups as we have seen in other countries, to silence activists, minorities and opponents.”

Amnesty say that prosecutors want to make an example of them and set a precedent for how direct action protestors could be treated in future. The decision will have a chilling effect on protest and will undoubtedly leave many people nervous of making their views known or attending vigils or marches.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the judgement was the statement made by the judges:

“It is not, as it claims, a direct action civil disobedience protest group like the suffragettes operating transparently in the open. It is a covert organisation that operates using secret cells to avoid the detection and prosecution of those using violence to destroy the property of third parties. Palestine Action’s activities have caused injury as well as property damage.“

It is hard to countenance that a group of supposedly learned judges should make a statement which is factually incorrect, historically naïve and verging on the bizarre. The suffragettes committed a large number of violent acts including damage to property, bombings and arson. They carried out these activities – about 300 all told – over many years. The number and extent of their actions far exceed those of Palestine Action. That judges of a senior court should be so misinformed is a worry.

Belfast and Southampton

Last week saw violence in Belfast and Southampton. Part of this was a series of organised attacks on houses containing refugees or immigrants. They were burnt out of their homes in acts of deliberate violence. The police came under sustained and violent attack. Despite the scale and nastiness of the attacks, there has been no question of using the terrorism word. The actions clearly fell into the definition of terrorism. Those who incited the violence are interviewed on media programmes.

In a previous post we commented on the attitude of successive governments towards the Gulf states and the double think involved. On the one hand talking in grand terms about a new world order, democracy and human rights, and on the other supplying arms and succour to a collection of brutal states which do the precise opposite. Where there is no democracy, women are second class citizens and certainly there are no human rights. Where our Royal family and others happily mingle with tyrants.

It is a looking glass world. Thousands have been arrested, many elderly, for protesting about the violence, destruction and genocide in Gaza and now in Lebanon. At least 73,000 have died in Gaza and thousands more wounded. Israel will not allow in heavy lifting equipment to help clear the rubble and retrieve bodies buried in it.

Recent posts:

• Serious issues raised by Palestine Action decision
• Podcast Episode: Humanism And Middle East Debate
• An Israeli and a Palestinian debate
• Refugee event this Saturday
• Understanding the Hypocrisy in UK’s Gulf Policies

British "Justice", 15 June. [2026] EWCA Civ 721

Genocide ✔️
Participation in genocide ✔️
Arming genocide ✔️
Funding genocide ✔️
Advocating genocide ✔️

Opposing genocide ❌️
Damaging weapons used in genocide ❌️
Holding cardboard signs ❌️

#CourtOfAppeal #PalestineAction #uklegal #ukpol

"And the courts gave them justice
as justice is given by well-mannered thugs"

CARDIFF AIRPORT: Bristol reported to be fighting on over £205m subsidy as Welsh rival hits a million passengers

Bristol Airport is reported to be seeking permission from the Court of Appeal to challenge the ruling that cleared the Welsh Government‘s £205m support for Cardiff Airport.

The move would be the latest round in a long-running fight over public money — and it comes at the very moment the support appears to be paying off for its Welsh rival.

It follows a decision last week by the Competition Appeal Tribunal to refuse Bristol permission to take its case to the Court of Appeal, finding that none of its six arguments stood up to scrutiny.

The tribunal accused the airport of adopting a “kitchen sink” approach — throwing every available argument at the case.

According to reports, Bristol now intends to apply to the Court of Appeal directly for permission to bring the challenge, rather than through the tribunal.

The dispute centres on the Welsh Government’s decision, in April 2025, to award Cardiff Airport a grant of £205.2m, earmarked for airline route incentives, a new hangar village and improved passenger facilities.

The Welsh Government has owned Cardiff Airport since 2013.

Bristol, which lies 27 miles from Cardiff Airport as the crow flies but more than 60 miles by road, argues its commercial interests are harmed by the public money flowing to its neighbour.

The renewed challenge comes as Cardiff passed a million passengers in a year, with official figures naming it the UK’s second fastest-growing airport.

Passenger numbers at the airport jumped 24% in the first three months of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, and were up 14% across the full financial year.

Much of that growth has been credited to a new transatlantic route, with Canadian airline WestJet now flying direct between Cardiff and Toronto — the first direct link between Wales and Canada in almost 20 years.

The airport says it supports thousands of jobs across south Wales and contributes more than £200m a year to the Welsh economy.

Those are the kinds of figures at the heart of the Welsh Government’s case for backing the airport in the first place.

When Bristol took the Welsh Government to the tribunal earlier this year, it branded the subsidy unlawful, disproportionate and anti-competitive.

A central plank of its case was that the Welsh Government had failed to treat Cardiff as an “ailing or insolvent” enterprise, which would have triggered extra legal requirements before support could be given.

The tribunal rejected that, ruling it was not irrational for the Welsh Government to treat the airport as a going concern — pointing in part to an earlier award, worth up to £33m, made between December 2023 and July 2024.

It also found that the rules on rescuing or restructuring failing businesses did not apply, because the purpose of the subsidy was a policy objective rather than a bailout.

The Welsh Government’s win was the fourth time a public authority has successfully defended a subsidy control case under the 2022 Act, with none yet lost.

Not everyone is convinced the airport is in the clear. Andrew RT Davies, the Welsh Conservative Senedd member for the Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend, welcomed the million-passenger milestone but warned the airport still needed to attract major carriers such as Qatar Airways to become profitable.

Whether the long-running saga is finally over now rests with the Court of Appeal, and whether it agrees to hear Bristol’s challenge at all.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

CARDIFF AIRPORT: A million passengers in a year as Welsh airport becomes UK’s second fastest-growing
How a record year and a new Toronto route fuelled the airport’s fastest growth in years.

Cardiff Airport: First direct WestJet flight from Toronto touches down
Wales’ first direct link to Canada in nearly two decades returns.

Bristol Airport drags Welsh ministers to tribunal over £205m Cardiff Airport bailout
The legal fight over the airport’s public funding lands in court.

Cardiff Airport appoints cargo expert in push to become regional freight hub
The airport’s drive to grow its freight business after its tribunal win.