CAMPAIGNERS handed a petition to Downing Street today urging the Prime Minister to scrap a “worrying” new law that would restrict the right of public bodies to launch boycott campaigns. 

The measure, contained in the Public Service Pensions Bill, seeks to prohibit local pension funds from making decisions that could conflict with the “Britain’s foreign and defence policy.” 

Campaigners say that the proposed legislation is targeted at the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, and would prevent public bodies from making ethical decisions to boycott and divest from firms complicit in Israeli apartheid.