![\"Arlene](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_BRITAIN-POLITICS-CONSERVATIVE.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe proposal also faced resistance from across the chamber, with some peers warning it could have unintended consequences for freedom of expression<\/p>\n
Baroness Arlene Foster is attempting to make it easier to prosecute those who show support for terrorist organisations(Image: BEN STANSALL\/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
A proposal by Arlene Foster to make it easier to prosecute the utterance of phrases such as \u201cUp the Ra\u201d<\/a> has been backed by peers in the House of Lords following a wide-ranging and, at times, emotional debate.<\/p>\n The former First Minister tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill on Wednesday, aimed at strengthening laws around the glorification of terrorism. Her proposal would remove a key legal threshold in the Terrorism Act 2006, making it easier to bring prosecutions against those who praise or celebrate terrorist acts.<\/p>\n Currently, for a statement to be considered a criminal offence, prosecutors must prove that it was intended to encourage others to emulate the behaviour being glorified. Baroness Foster\u2019s<\/a> amendment would remove that requirement in cases involving proscribed organisations, meaning that glorification alone could be enough to trigger prosecution.<\/p>\n Speaking in the Lords, she said the change was necessary to tackle what she described as the \u201charmful normalisation of terrorism\u201d, particularly among young people.<\/p>\n “Just yesterday [Tuesday], I was shocked\u2014I should not have been, because unfortunately it has become the norm\u2014that, at a council-run St Patrick\u2019s Day <\/a>parade in Newry, parents were buying balaclavas and scarves with IRA slogans on them for their young children,” Baroness Foster told the Lords.<\/p>\n “The impact on our young people is huge, and that is what I am concerned about. People might say that I should not live in the past, and sometimes when I raise the issue of the glorification of terrorism the Minister will say that everything that happened in the past was terrible. But this is not about the past; this is about the future and our young people.<\/p>\n “We need to stop the harmful normalisation of terrorism, and this amendment would go some way towards doing that. Terrorism is never justified. It causes mistrust between communities, takes away lives and causes devastation for so many people. I have listened to the concerns that were raised in Committee, and by the Minister, and I hope that the House will see fit to back my amendment.”<\/p>\n A number of unionist peers supported the amendment, citing personal experiences of the Troubles and the impact of such language on victims\u2019 families.<\/p>\n Lord Tom Elliott<\/a> of Ballinamallard described incidents where chants of \u201cUp the Ra\u201d had been directed at people in Northern Ireland, saying it caused significant distress and should be treated as an offence.<\/p>\n “I ask noble Lords to put themselves in a situation; the examples I give are live examples. There is a group of young people playing in a junior band and a busload of adults pull up who are coming from a Gaelic football <\/a>match and they start singing pro-terrorist songs and chanting ‘Up the Ra’.<\/p>\n “What does that do for those young people who are out playing and enjoying music? I give another example. A man during the Troubles, because he was a member of the Ulster Defence Regiment, was murdered. That evening, his three young children and his widow were in the house and groups of people drove past in cars, cheering at his murder. Those were his neighbours who were doing that\u2014cheering at his murder and shouting ‘Up the Ra’ Tell me that that is not an offence. If it is not, it should be. Tell that man\u2019s widow, who is still alive, and his children that that is not an offence. If it is not, it should be,” he said.<\/p>\n Lord Rogan also pointed to recent examples of young people chanting the slogan, arguing that many did not fully understand its meaning but that it remained deeply offensive.<\/p>\n Supporters argued that extremist groups often operate within the limits of the law, using suggestion and praise rather than direct calls to violence, and that the current legislation made prosecutions difficult.<\/p>\n However, the proposal also faced resistance from across the chamber, with some peers warning it could have unintended consequences for freedom of expression.<\/p>\n Lord Anderson of Ipswich said removing the so-called \u201cemulation requirement\u201d risked criminalising the expression of views without regard to whether they caused harm.<\/p>\n “It would become a police matter to say that the IRA did what it had to do in 1918 or that the Tamil Tigers, currently a proscribed group, fought bravely in defence of their homeland. It seems to me that this would restrict the scope of legitimate comment and be a departure from the principle that we normally criminalise behaviour only when it is liable to cause harm to others,” he said, warning that the amendment could restrict legitimate comment.<\/p>\n Others questioned how the law would be applied in practice, raising concerns about chants at sporting events, historical debate and cultural expression.<\/p>\n Baroness Fox of Buckley said she understood the motivation behind the amendment but warned it could draw a wide range of activity into the scope of criminal law, including slogans used on both sides of Northern Ireland\u2019s divide.<\/p>\n Responding for the Government<\/a>, Lord Hanson of Flint said ministers could not support the amendment, arguing that existing legislation already provided sufficient powers.<\/p>\n He said the current law had been \u201ccarefully drafted\u201d following the 7\/7 attacks to ensure that offences were linked to encouragement of terrorism, and noted that it had recently been reviewed by the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.<\/p>\n He also pointed to other provisions, including offences under the Terrorism Act 2000, which make it illegal to express support for proscribed organisations.<\/p>\n Despite those concerns, Lady Foster<\/a> said she believed the issue needed to be tested and pushed the amendment to a vote, which was passed by 231 votes to 188.<\/p>\n Sign up here for our Party Lines newsletter<\/a> and get the latest political analysis and headlines from Belfast Live’s Political Reporter James McCarthy direct to your inbox twice a week.<\/p>\n For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage <\/strong>here<\/a> and sign up to our daily newsletter<\/a> here.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The proposal also faced resistance from across the chamber, with some peers warning it could have unintended consequences…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[100164,1144,67954,285,16,15],"class_list":["post-839697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-arlene-foster","tag-northern-ireland","tag-paramilitaries","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116264719307743463","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0_JS343541892-1.jpg\")
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