Both the Green Party and the Labour Party in the City of Westminster have criticised Conservative council leader Paul Swaddle for applying “double standards” in calling for a ban on pro-Palestine marches while remaining silent on far-right rallies.
Last week leader-elect of Westminster City Council, Cllr Paul Swaddle OBE, wrote to home secretary Shabana Mahmood ahead of the protests that took place over the weekend.
Pro-Palestine protesters took to the streets on Saturday for Nakba Day, which refers to the displacement of Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli War in 1948, and were joined by demonstrators from Stand Up To Racism as they made their way from Exhibition Road to Pall Mall.
Unite The Kingdom, led by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, held a rally also on Saturday, marching from Kingsway to Parliament Square.
The Met Police agreed routes with the organisers and kept both marches apart.
In a letter to the home secretary, Cllr Paul Swaddle said:
“We agree with the Government’s reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, that there should be a ‘moratorium’ on pro-Palestinian marches — to be clear we support freedom of speech and assembly but this should be proportionate as for too long these continuous almost weekly marches/protests have added to the challenges facing our most vulnerable residents and communities and send damaging messages that extremist opinions are acceptable.”
However, Swaddle made no mention in his letter of the far-right Unite The Kingdom rally.
On Monday, West Central London Green Party wrote to Swaddle, saying:
“In your letter to the Home Secretary, you began by making gestures towards both protests, but then you swiftly transitioned to calling for a moratorium solely on the pro-Palestine marches. You clearly forgot to mention the harm that the Unite The Kingdom march caused in September, and the risk that it posed this time round.
“Last September, we saw a large range of unacceptable and racist behaviour at the Unite The Kingdom protest, with officers severely injured, Islamophobic chants and Elon Musk saying that attendees must “fight back or […] die”. Immigrants and people of colour were made to feel unsafe in the city that they call home. This year, we saw much of the same.”
The Greens called for the Westminster Council leader to withdraw his remarks about the pro-Palestine marchers, and accused him of “double standards” and of turning a blind-eye to racism in “a borough filled with residents from all different communities”.
In a similar vein, the Labour Party in Westminster also accused Swaddle of “double standards”.
“Westminster Labour is deeply concerned that one of Cllr Paul Swaddle’s first actions as Conservative Leader of Westminster City Council has been to call for the banning of pro-Palestine protests, while failing to call for similar restrictions on far-right demonstrations,” said a statement published on Monday.
“Cllr Swaddle’s decision to single out pro-Palestine demonstrations raises legitimate questions among residents about why he has remained silent on far-right rallies. This selective approach risks undermining confidence in the consistent application of democratic principles.
“It also reflects a broader shift within the Conservative Party, as it seeks to respond to pressure from Reform UK. Recent national statements, including comments from Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch suggesting pro-Palestinian marches should be banned while describing Unite the Kingdom rallies as acceptable, reinforce concerns about an uneven approach to protest rights.”
Swaddle led the Conservatives to victory winning 32 seats in the council elections this month. Labour came in second with 22 seats. The Greens came third but failed to win any seats despite polling nearly 18 per cent of the votes cast.
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