MINISTERS moved to ban US-based neonazi organisation the Base today, branding it an extreme right-wing terrorist group.

Anti-racist campaigners welcomed the decision but complained that the government had not also taken steps to outlaw “violent groups that are actually active in this country.”

The Base, formed in 2018, has sought to recruit militants to carry out terror attacks with the aim of sparking a “race war” and establishing a white-ethnic state.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was committed to making it “as difficult as possible” for an “evil white supremacist group” to operate in Britain.

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.

The ban will come into force next week if approved by MPs. It would make it the fifth white supremacist group to be outlawed in Britain and the third since the beginning of this year. 

The group, set up by US national Rinaldo Nazarro, who is now believed to be based in Russia, has recently sought to expand networks outside the US and recruit internationally.

But Hope Not Hate questioned why steps had not been taken to outlaw racist occultist group the Order of Nine Angles, despite it being based in Britain.

Chief executive Nick Lowles said: “While this ban is a positive development, it remains bewildering that the government has not moved to proscribe the more dangerous, more active group the Order of Nine Angles.

“Our view remains that it is time for the government to start using their powers to proscribe violent groups that are actually active in this country at the time of being banned.”