Mother of imprisoned UK Palestine Action activist tells TNA of mortgage rejection over 'reputational risk'

The mother of a jailed Palestine Action activist has told The New Arab that Lloyds Bank rejected her mortgage application over what her broker said was a "reputational risk", adding to scrutiny of the bank over accusations of politically motivated debanking.

Emma Kamio said the decision came in June, six weeks into a mortgage application she had pursued under a tight deadline as she sought to raise money after years spent campaigning for her daughter, Leona "Ellie" Kamio.

Documents seen by Novara suggest the application was rejected over "adverse media", at a time when Ellie Kamio was being held on remand over a Palestine Action protest.

Lloyds told The New Arab that it does not close accounts or make lending decisions on the basis of political or personal beliefs, and said its decisions are instead governed by laws, regulations, account conditions and lending requirements.

Emma Kamio said she had been trying to remortgage one of her properties after her work as a homoeopath and Pilates instructor suffered while she devoted much of the past two years to campaigning for her daughter.

"As a small business owner, just fighting for my family's life for the last two years, the business has definitely been affected," Kamio told The New Arab.

Ellie Kamio, one of a group known as the "Filton 4", was sentenced to six years in prison in June after being convicted of criminal damage over a direct-action protest at an Elbit Systems factory in Filton, England.

Her mother said she had informed her mortgage broker about her own arrest while protesting against the proscription of Palestine Action. She was later found not guilty.

But after weeks of progressing through the mortgage application, she said she was told Lloyds would not proceed.

"Six weeks down the track, it wasn't just like within days. I was under a time bracket, which put me under a lot of stress," Kamio said.

Kamio, who described herself as a longstanding Lloyds customer, said the mortgage rejection was not the family's first unexplained difficulty with the bank.

While Ellie was being held on remand and before her conviction, Kamio said Lloyds closed her daughter's account without providing an explanation.

"A letter came to my house saying that she needed to find alternative ways of paying for her mobile bill," she said.

Lloyds declined to comment on the individual cases.

"Our decisions are based on relevant laws, regulations, account conditions, or lending requirements," a spokesperson told The New Arab. "We do not close customer accounts or make lending decisions based on political or personal beliefs."

'I've lost the property'

Kamio eventually secured another mortgage provider, but said the stress surrounding the process, combined with her daughter's imprisonment, had taken a severe toll on her health.

She said she developed high blood pressure, post-traumatic stress disorder and eczema, eventually prompting her to hand the property over to her sister.

"I've developed high blood pressure, PTSD, eczema - that's a new one - my face," Kamio said.

"We've lost another sister 20 years ago to cancer, and so my sister said to me, 'I can't lose another sister with your blood pressure the way it is', and she's just taken it off my hands, so I've lost the property."

"That's all the stress that goes with it, to be honest."

The Kamio family's experience comes amid wider accusations that Lloyds has debanked other customers associated with left-wing politics or activism without adequate explanation.

The bank came under scrutiny in June after left-wing news outlet The Canary said it had been unable to pay staff after Lloyds closed its business account following almost a decade as a customer.

The Canary finances in doubt after Lloyds shuts account

British politician George Galloway also threatened legal action against Bank of Scotland, which is owned by Lloyds Banking Group, after saying his account had been closed without warning or an adequate explanation.

Kamio said her experiences over the past two years had fundamentally altered her view of powerful institutions in Britain.

"I would say that what I've learned over the last two years is much like the government; they have the power to penalise and silence voices that don't agree with their support of the genocide or the financing of the arms industry," she said.

"But I believe that this will now change as we begin to experience what the Muslim community have been subjected to all this time."

Kamio said she believed the expanding use of terrorism legislation would ultimately affect people far beyond Palestine solidarity activists.

"The abuse of the terrorism laws and its wide-reaching consequences will begin to affect us all, and the upside of that, hopefully, is that it will unite the divide."