Over 100 peers demand probe into police ban on Maccabi fans

More than 100 MPs and members of the Lords have written to the police watchdog demanding action over West Midlands Police’s (WMP) decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending the club’s Europa League match against Aston Villa in Birmingham last month.

The cross-party group includes former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, former Security Minister Tom Tugendhat, Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick, Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice, ex Lib Dem leader Tim Farron and Baroness Luciana Berger.

In their letter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the parliamentarians expressed concern that WMP’s decision was made “to appease significant local political pressure from anti-Israel MPs, councillors and activists who had launched a campaign to get the match cancelled.”

The group argued that, given these concerns, the IOPC “has no alternative but to exercise its powers to investigate West Midlands Police’s conduct, decision-making process, and intelligence assessments in relation to the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.”

“Faced with the serious charge of misleading Parliament, we do not have confidence in West Midlands Police’s ability to investigate its own actions,” they continued, urging the IOPC to initiate an investigation “at the earliest opportunity.”

Earlier this month, WMP was forced to retract statements made before Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee claiming that members of the Jewish community supported the ban on Maccabi fans.

In a letter to WMP, committee chair Dame Karen Bradley wrote that it was the committee’s “strong expectation” that senior officers would appear before MPs again in the new year to answer further questions.

Bradley also urged WMP to “clarify the remarks made by Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara that Jewish community representatives objected to the presence of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, something which we now understand to be untrue.”