Extreme right-wing terrorist group, The Base, to be banned

Home Secretary Priti Patel has taken action to outlaw the extreme right-wing terrorist group, The Base; a predominantly US-based militant white supremacist organisation seeking to establish a white ethno-state.

First formed in 2018, the group shares many of its aims and ideologies with Atomwaffen Division and its alias National Socialist Order, which the Home Secretary proscribed earlier this year.

Proscription makes it a criminal offence to be a member of, or invite support for the group, with those found guilty now facing up to 14 years in prison, after the government increased the maximum sentence through the Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Act 2021.

The Home Office says that The Base has celebrated and promoted the use of violence in an attempt to establish a fascist, white ethno-state by means of a ‘race war’, and members are known to have engaged in weapons and explosives training. In January 2020, alleged members of the group were arrested in the US, having been under FBI surveillance for months.

The Base will be the fifth extreme right-wing terrorist group to be proscribed in the UK, and the third to be proscribed within the last year.

Patel said: “We continue to take robust action against evil white supremacist groups, who target vulnerable people across the world to join in their hateful ideologies and their sick promotion of violence. I am committed to making it as difficult as possible for these organisations to operate in the UK, both by banning them and increasing the penalties for membership or support, in order to protect the public and our national security.”