by Geraldine Scott, The Times
Lord Walney said Bash Back ‘deserves more serious attention’ after it published a guide on how to arm themselves and carry out repeated illegal attacks on MPs
Ministers should consider proscribing a militant transgender activist group which has targeted the offices of MPs, the government’s former adviser on political violence has said.
Writing in The Times, Lord Walney said the conduct of the group Bash Back “deserves far more serious attention than it has so far received” and that ministers should test it against the same threshold that led to the proscription of Palestine Action.
Bash Back is a transgender-led direct action group which vandalised the office of Wes Streeting in July last year when he was the health secretary, and it has pushed for a “new era of trans rage”.
The Times previously revealed that the group had produced a guide for members urging them to arm themselves and carry out repeated illegal attacks on MPs and organisations.
It told activists to form “independent local cells”, “identify a target” — including MPs, organisations and political party conferences — and “ensure your target can be hit repeatedly until they desist” from their “transphobic” activities.
“On the evidence already in the public domain, there is a serious case to answer,” Walney said.