Neo-Nazi group to be banned

A NEO-NAZI movement is to become the first extreme right-wing group banned as a terrorist organisation, the Government has announced.

An order laid in Parliament yesterday to proscribe National Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 is due to come into effect on Friday morning.

It will be the first time a group engaged in extreme right-wing activities will be banned under the laws.

The move will mean that being a member of the organisation becomes a criminal offence.

Announcing the step, Home Secretary Amber Rudd described National Action as a “racist, antiSemitic and homophobic organisation”.

She said: “National Action is a racist, antiSemitic and homophobic organisation which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence and promotes a vile ideology, and I will not stand for it. It has absolutely no place in a Britain that works for everyone.”

National Action is being proscribed as it has been assessed to be “concerned in terrorism”.

The Home Secretary decided to ban the organisation before the trial of Thomas Mair, who was convicted of and jailed for the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.

The phrase “Death to traitors, freedom for Britain” – which was said by Mair in court – appears in National Action’s website listing in online search results.