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  • 4/11/2025
Dame Priti Patel has asked why the Home Office have not responded to a legal challenge which would stop Hamas being a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK. Speaking to GB News, Dame Priti Patel said: “This is a stain on our democracy and on our laws when we all know that Hamas is backed by Iran. Hamas are terrorist organisation and have been proscribed for very good reasons.“They're part of the murderous regime. They murder and torture and brutalise innocent civilians, and they are responsible for the atrocities that took place in Israel on the 7th October, two years ago. So this is simply unacceptable.“What I think it's quite extraordinary, though we've heard nothing from the British government, nothing from the department that I used to lead; a department where I basically took a very bold step forward to proscribe Hamas in all its forms, because they are a threat to the security of our country.“They're a threat to British citizens, and as we can see, they're a threat to all nationals of peace-loving countries around the world and those countries that stand up for Western values, freedom and democracy and free speech.“I think it is absolutely absurd that the so-called legal representatives representing this terrorist organisation are trying to pervert our own domestic laws to effectively unwind the proscription that I put in place that was backed by Parliament and backed by many of our defence and security allies.“That is something that I expect this government should speak about and stand firm over.“As Home Secretary, I put forward many, many laws, legislation on our statue books. I'm afraid, not all government have followed through on that legislation.“When I was Home Secretary, I constantly faced legal judgment, but I quite frankly, left wing lawyers, lawyers, by the way, some of these organisations have supported Labour MPs and supported the Labour Party when it came to some of these asylum cases.“I brought forward legislation which would stop the abuse of our immigration courts and tribunals where we had so-called asylum seekers, i.e. people that came to our country illegally and have no legal basis to remain in our country.“They would go to the immigration courts and tribunals again and again, basically trying to use the system to stay in our country. I brought forward laws to stop that so we ended this merry go round.“And now, of course, you've got the same lawyers, these law lawyers basically on the left, who are basically on the side of people that come to our country legally, break our laws, don't even abide by our laws, let alone follow the laws of our lands and our country.“These are legal representatives. I'm going to call them legal representatives - I think their own legal basis should be questioned. They are abusing our laws. They're effectively abusing the laws that they sign up to support through their legal practices.“They're using laws to basically poke their thumbs and noses at the British public and the British legislators and say that they're supporting the most awful people that come to our country to do harm to our country.“My party has very rightly said that we're going to look at all of these options, and they're all options on the table. I think first of all, let's just remember what Hamas are doing right now. They still hold captive 59 hostages. They are brutalizing them. They terrorise them. Their families are going through absolute pain and agony not knowing where their where their loved ones are.“On the other hand, we've got these so called lawyers basically now trying to circumnavigate and abuse our own laws and use the veil of the European Court of Human Rights and, dare I say, free speech.“What do these people know about free speech when Hamas is an organisation that is terrorising a population in Gaza, has abused people and the hostages that they have, kidnapped. It just as an insult to absolutely everyone.“I think the British people across our country will be horrified by this, but my party is not in power. The question is, what is this Labour government going to do about this party because they voted against all these laws before.“We've got to find the right ways in which we change our laws and just to say we would leave or appeal, that's not a way forward, without actually having the ability to say, this is how we are going to do it.“I took forward some very difficult and challenging legislation on asylum and on illegal migrants that by the way, everyone in the Labour Party, the very people that are now in government, they voted against.“They're all sitting there silently on this new challenge and on this new abuse to our domestic laws. On people that are undermining the security, the national security and the national interest of our country.”WATCH ABOVE.

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Transcript
00:00of this legal application to Yvette Cooper.
00:05Well, first of all, good afternoon.
00:07Obviously a stain on our democracy and on our laws
00:11when we all know that Hamas is backed by Iran.
00:14Hamas are a terrorist organisation.
00:16They've been prescribed for very good reasons.
00:18They're part of a murderous regime.
00:20They murder and torture and brutalise innocent civilians
00:23and they are responsible for the atrocities that took place in Israel
00:27on the 7th of October, two years ago.
00:30So this is simply unacceptable.
00:32What I think is quite extraordinary, Emily, though,
00:34we've heard nothing from the British government,
00:37nothing from the department that I used to lead,
00:39a department where I basically took a very bold step forward
00:42to prescribe Hamas in all its forms
00:45because they are a threat to the security of our country.
00:48They're a threat to British citizens, British nationals.
00:50And also, as we can see, they're a threat to all nationals
00:54of peace-loving countries around the world.
00:56And those countries that stand up for Western values,
00:59freedom and democracy, free speech.
01:01And that is simply unacceptable.
01:03I think it is absolutely absurd that the so-called legal representatives
01:07representing this terrorist organisation
01:10are trying to pervert our own domestic laws
01:13to effectively unwind the prescription that I put in place
01:18that was backed, by the way, by Parliament
01:19and backed by many of our allies around the world,
01:23our defence and security allies.
01:25And that is something that I expect this government
01:28should speak about and stand firm over.
01:30This seems to be the strange thing here,
01:33that a legal firm in this country
01:35that seems to deal with asylum cases in its spare time
01:39is now using this appeals system
01:42against the will not only of the then Home Secretary,
01:47but also of Parliament itself.
01:49I mean, there is no higher law in the United Kingdom
01:52than a sovereign Parliament.
01:55When the Supreme Court tries to make decisions,
01:58they appeal to the will of Parliament,
02:00not the will of the government.
02:01Given that Parliament has backed this,
02:03how on earth is there anything to go on?
02:05So, look, you've just asked a very important question.
02:11As you can imagine, I've got some very strong views on this.
02:14As Home Secretary, I put forward many, many laws,
02:17you know, legislation on our statute books.
02:19I'm afraid not all governments have followed through
02:22on that legislation.
02:23But you've made a really important point.
02:25When I was Home Secretary,
02:26I constantly faced legal judgment
02:29by, quite frankly, left-wing lawyers.
02:30Lawyers, by the way,
02:32some of these organisations have supported Labour MPs
02:34and supported the Labour Party
02:37when it came to some of these asylum cases.
02:39I brought forward legislation,
02:41which I think your viewers should be reminded of,
02:43which would stop the abuse
02:44of our immigration courts and tribunals,
02:46where we had so-called asylum seekers,
02:48i.e. people that came to our country illegally
02:50and had no legal basis to remain in our country.
02:53They would go to the immigration courts and tribunals
02:55again and and again,
02:56basically trying to use the system
02:59to stay in our country.
03:00I brought forward laws to stop that,
03:02so we ended this merry-go-round.
03:04And now, of course,
03:05we've got the same lawyers,
03:07these so-called do-getting lawyers,
03:09these lawyers, basically,
03:11on the left,
03:12who are basically on the side of people
03:13that come to our country illegally,
03:15break our laws,
03:16don't even abide by our laws,
03:19let alone follow the laws of our lands
03:20and our country.
03:22These are legal representatives.
03:24I'm going to call them legal representatives.
03:26I think their own legal basis
03:27should be questioned.
03:28They are abusing our laws.
03:31They're effectively abusing the laws
03:33that they sign up to support in
03:35through their legal practices.
03:37They're using laws now
03:38to basically poke their thumbs and noses
03:41at the British public
03:42and at the British legislators
03:44and say that, you know,
03:45they're supporting the most awful people
03:47that come to our country
03:48to do harm to our country.
03:50I mean, we've seen so much abuse
03:51of the European Court of Human Rights,
03:54haven't we?
03:54Our human rights laws,
03:55whether it's defending foreign criminals
03:57in this country,
03:58preventing foreign criminals
03:59from being deported and the like.
04:01And now, apparently,
04:02these lawyers are going to be using
04:04the freedom of speech
04:06and freedom of expression
04:07that's in the European Court of Human Rights
04:09to try and defend Hamas in this country.
04:12I mean, is this a reason
04:13to get rid of these human rights laws?
04:15Well, as you know, Emily,
04:19my party has very rightly said
04:21we're going to look at all of these options
04:24and they're all options on the table.
04:26I think, first of all,
04:27let's just remember
04:28what Hamas are doing right now.
04:30They still hold captive 59 hostages.
04:33They are brutalising them.
04:35They've terrorised them.
04:36Their families are going through
04:38absolute pain and agony,
04:40not knowing where their loved ones are.
04:43And yet, on the other hand,
04:44we've got these so-called lawyers
04:46basically now trying to circumnavigate
04:49and abuse our own laws
04:51and use the veil of the European Court of Human Rights,
04:54the European Convention of Human Rights,
04:56and, dare I say it, free speech.
04:58What do these people know about free speech
05:00when Hamas is an organisation
05:02that is terrorising a population in Gaza,
05:05has abused people
05:07and the hostages that they have kidnapped?
05:10It just is an insult to absolutely everyone.
05:13And, quite frankly,
05:14I think your viewers
05:15and the British people across our country
05:18will be horrified by this.
05:20But my party's not in power.
05:22The question is,
05:23what is this Labour government going to do about this?
05:25Because they are the ones...
05:26But it is important what your party's position is on the ECHR.
05:30We've been against all these laws before.
05:31And so far,
05:32your position as a party
05:34is to look at the Convention
05:35but not necessarily withdraw from it?
05:40Well, we've got to find the right ways
05:42in which we change our laws.
05:44And just to basically say
05:45we would leave or repeal,
05:47that's not a way forward
05:48without actually having the ability
05:50to say this is how we are going to do it.
05:53And as someone, Tom,
05:54let me just say this to you.
05:55I took forward some very difficult
05:56and challenging legislation on asylum
05:58and on illegal migrants.
06:00By the way,
06:01everyone in the Labour Party,
06:03the very people that are now in government,
06:04they voted against it.
06:06And now, guess what?
06:06They're all sitting there silently
06:08on this new challenge
06:09and on this new abuse to our domestic laws.
06:11And, you know,
06:12basically people that are undermining
06:14the security,
06:15the national security
06:16and the national interest of our country.

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