Corbyn and McDonnell to face no motion after London rally

MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell will face no additional motion after being interviewed by police following a pro-Palestinian rally.

McDonnell stated the pair had been questioned by officers after participating within the demonstration in central London in January.

He instructed MPs: “It was alleged that we didn’t comply with police restrictions on the protest. That is unfaithful, and always we adopted police directions”.

Former Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn accused the Metropolitan Police of “selecting on us two as members of Parliament”.

A rally involving a number of thousand individuals occurred in Whitehall in January after police blocked plans to carry a march from Portland Place, close to the headquarters of the BBC.

Police had imposed a situation on the organisers of the rally underneath the Public Order Act that prevented them gathering exterior the company’s headquarters due to its shut proximity to a synagogue and a threat there could possibly be “critical disruption” as congregants attended companies.

An extra situation required the rally to be confined to Whitehall.

Talking within the Commons on Friday, McDonnell stated: “We will now report that the police have dropped the case towards us, and there will probably be no prices”.

He added that in correspondence with their solicitor, the Met had “knowledgeable us that our case was referred to the Crown Prosecution Service as a result of as MPs we had been to be held to have, and I quote, a ‘larger culpability'”.

“That is an unacceptable apply that flies within the face of the precept that we’re all equal earlier than the regulation,” he added.

“I want to place on file my concern about this behaviour by the Metropolitan Police”.

Talking after him, Corbyn stated: “I noticed this entire effort as being a method to attempt to silence the democratic rights of everybody in our society by selecting on us two as members of Parliament”.

Former Labour chief Corbyn was re-elected as an unbiased MP for Islington North after shedding the Labour whip in 2020.

Hayes and Harlington MP McDonnell presently sits as an unbiased, after Labour suspended the whip from him for in July 2024 for voting towards the federal government over baby profit guidelines.

In an announcement on social media, the pair additionally referred to as for prices to be dropped towards Christopher Nineham, 63, of Tower Hamlets, and Benjamin Jamal, 61, who’re going through trial subsequent month on public order prices following the protest.

A Met spokesperson stated: “No additional motion will probably be taken towards 9 individuals who had been interviewed as a part of an investigation into alleged breaches of Public Order Act situations throughout a protest on Saturday 18 January.

“The choice in two circumstances was taken following a evaluation of the proof by the Crown Prosecution Service, whereas the remaining seven circumstances had been selected by cops.

“Two males have been charged with breaching the identical situations in addition to inciting others to take action. They are going to stand trial subsequent month. An extra two people stay underneath investigation.”

A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service stated: “Following an intensive evaluation of the proof offered by the Metropolitan Police Service, we have now determined to not deliver felony prices towards two males, aged 76 and 73.

“We have now concluded that the case didn’t meet the evidential take a look at to offer a sensible prospect of conviction towards the 2 males.”