AdSea260, who was recently elected as the independent MP for Rugby in the October 2nd by-elections to replace a Tory MP who was expelled due to non-attendance in parliamentary votes, has introduced a motion in Parliament calling on the government to declare that the controversial environmental protest group Just Stop Oil is a terrorist group and hence ban the group.

Who are Just Stop Oil?

Just Stop Oil wants the government to stop extracting and burning fossil fuels by 2030. They carry out high-profile protests which they label as "non-violent civil resistance", which have included blocking major roads, blockading oil facilities, disrupting sports matches and theatre productions, and throwing soup over famous paintings. Recently, they occupied the Green Party’s headquarters to protest against the party opposing legislation which would have prohibited new licences for the extraction of oil and gas. Their methods of protest are controversial: supporters argue that their method of protest generates lots of media attention and raises awareness of climate change, and that protesting in unlawful ways is justified given the severity of climate change; whereas their opponents argue that their method of protest alienates the public from supporting action against climate change, or argue that their method of protest breaks the law and should be punished accordingly.

Tomorrow, on Saturday afternoon, they plan to hold a protest at the Fawley Refinery, which is the largest oil refinery in England and provides 20% of England’s oil refining capacity. Fawley is located 11 kilometres from Southampton in Hampshire.

Are Just Stop Oil a terrorist group?

During debates held between candidates in the October 2nd byelections, Just Stop Oil and its recent occupation of the Green Party headquarters was debated. In those debates, both Reform candidates said that Just Stop Oil should be viewed as a terrorist organisation, while AdSea260 said they should be treated similarly to how the police and the criminal justice system deal with the far-right riots this summer. Other candidates generally condemned the occupation of the Green Party HQ while refusing to call Just Stop Oil a terrorist group, while model-faelif went further and instead declared that those opposed to action against climate change are “eco-terrorists”.

Under the Terrorism Act 2000, for an action to count as terrorism, 2 criteria have to be satisfied. The first is that a person or a group acts or threatens to act in a way which involves serious violence against a person, involves serious damage to property, endangers a person’s life (except of the person committing the act or the threat), creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or a section of the public, or is designed seriously to interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system. Additionally, acting or threatening to act in a way which involves the use of firearms or explosives is defined as terrorism whether or not serious damage to property is caused or threatened. The second criteria is that the act or threat is designed to influence the government or an international governmental organisation or to intimidate the public or a section of the public, and the act or threat is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause. The Act then allows the government to proscribe groups which commit acts of terror or are otherwise involved in terrorism, which then makes it a criminal offence to be a member of or to support the group.

If a group believes they have been wrongly proscribed as a terrorist organisation, they can appeal against this decision. They can appeal first to the Home Secretary; and, if the Home Secretary refuses their appeal, they can then apply for judicial review of the proscription to a special commission set up to decide on appeals, which can also allow them to bring a further appeal to the courts.

Professor Mirosław Styczen, a Professor of Security Studies at King’s College London who studies terrorism, told the Independent "in order to designate JSO as a terrorist organisation, a case would need to be made that JSO's action constitute serious harm to the safety of the general public or public property, however, I don't think this argument could be applied to JSO and their protest actions so far. If it wished the government could continue the work being performed by John Woodcock, as an independent advisor on political advisor to the previous government he proposed classifying JSO and other groups as extreme protest groups which would allow the government to restrict their ability to fundraise and assembly within the United Kingdom. Such a move would be highly controversial, as the initial report has been linked to the fossil fuel industry and could be seen as an industry-sponsored attack on civil liberties”.

A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil told the Independent "we are all collectively threatened by climate change, as increasingly erratic weather patterns, temperature-related deaths and food scarcity problems are predicted to cause millions of death worldwide and destroy already fragile ecosystems. JSO exist fundamentally to highlight this danger and pressure our government to take the required action to help prevent this violent catastrophe. By calling us terrorists, these politicians are siding with climate destruction and short-term profit over the long-term future of the planet and reinforces our will to continue our protest action."

Independent MP introduces motion in Parliament

Last week, on Saturday, Independent MP AdSea260 laid a motion before the House of Commons which claimed that Just Stop Oil’s actions are damaging to the international reputation of the United Kingdom, that their members “would be willing to take a violent options if they had the choice”, and that the government should consequently proscribe Just Stop Oil as a terrorist organisation and should “apply the full force of the law upon the organisation and its members”.

Most who spoke in the debate spoke in opposition to this motion. The Energy and Net Zero Secretary, Labour’s LightningMinion, said he opposes the motion because he believes that Just Stop Oil does not meet the legal definition of a terrorist organisation and it would therefore be “unlawful” for the government to declare them as such.

LightningMinion argued that, while Just Stop Oil’s protests do break the law, they are peaceful and do not cause serious damage to property, thus meaning that Just Stop Oil does not meet the legal definition of a terrorist organisation, and so Just Stop Oil cannot lawfully be declared to be a terrorist organisation. He also accused AdSea260 of “baseless, reckless fearmongering” for claiming that Just Stop Oil would use violence if they could.

The government isn’t united on this issue, however. zakian3000, the leader of Alba, declared his support for the motion, explaining that since Just Stop Oil have spray painted famous paintings and invaded the Green Party’s headquarters, they have caused serious damage to property and thus should be viewed as terrorists by the government to deter other organisations from protesting in the same, “unacceptable” way as Just Stop Oil.

A spokesperson for the Home Office told the Independent that “the Government firmly opposes the actions of Just Stop Oil, but we do not believe that they are a terrorist organisation, so there will be no proscription as a terrorist organisation. We ask for a calm response and discussions with organisations such as these, retributions such as trying to proscribe political parties are not helpful as such.”

Conservative MP Meneerduif said he opposes the motion because he does not believe Just Stop Oil has crossed the threshold into being a terrorist organisation as they have not committed violence. He doesn’t, however, support the organisation, telling Parliament that they “endanger” others by blocking roads, and that “we should finally bring the full force of the law down on them”. He called for Just Stop Oil protesters who have damaged works of art or blocked roads to receive the maximum penalty allowed by the law to deter others from taking such action, arguing that “in our democratic nation you are able to voice your opinion and even demonstrate it. But to use vandalism and the blocking of roads to force it through is wrong”.

The deputy leader of the Lib Dems condemned the recent actions of Just Stop Oil and said they hope they reconsider how they campaign, but also said they “personally feel uneasy with equivocating environmental protest with terrorism”. They went on to state that they think current legislation is sufficient for dealing with Just Stop Oil, and that treating acts of protest as equivalent to acts of terrorism would be problematic and would represent “a dangerous step in the direction of authoritarianism”.

The newly-elected Plaid Cymru MP for Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare, ViktorHR, also said he will be opposing this motion. He argued that Just Stop Oil’s actions are consistent with a “British culture” of “persevering in spite of the odds and the rough conditions created by a stronger foe” and “being determined to fight for what is objectively right regardless of the consequences”, and with a “British spirit that defeated Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, and Hitler”. Though he recognises that some protests by Just Stop Oil are controversial and can be considered “appalling”, he claimed that “the goals of the organisation are honourable and supported by a majority of Britons” and that they should not be viewed as terrorists due to a few select Just Stop Oil protesters. Viktor also said he is worried that declaring Just Stop Oil to be a terrorist organisation would open a “Pandora's box” by allowing the “overuse” of the term, giving one hypothetical example as someone claiming that the Reform Party are terrorists due to them “[peddling] harmful rhetoric about local communities of people of colour”.

The newly-elected “Independent Green” MP for Peterborough, model-faelif, has since introduced a motion in the Commons doing exactly that, and asking the government to say that the Reform Party is a terrorist organisation, with the motion’s wording inspired by the Just Stop Oil motion. She is also seeking to amend AdSea260’s motion so that it instead commends Just Stop Oil for their protests.