A SOMERSET MP has described recent incidents of vandalism on Somerset Council's headquarters as 'yobbery'.

The three attacks which have seen the County Hall building in Taunton covered in red paint were carried out by Palestine Action protestors.

The group is asking the local authority to evict Elbit - a firm that activists say could be providing weapons to the Israeli Defence Forces - from their Aztec West 600 site.

Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset said political idealism was being used to legitimise ‘yobbery’, and council taxpayers’ patience had run out.

After the incidents, Somerset Council said clean-up operations were going to be paid for by taxpayers.

The first attack alone, which took place in March, cost Somerset’s taxpayers £7,600.

“Each time these incidents take place it is the council taxpayers who have to shoulder the considerable cost of specialists being brought in to clean the buildings,” Mr Liddell-Grainger said.

“Everyone has a right to express their views but there comes a point where those doing so have to consider the implications of what they are doing - and in this case repeatedly damaging a public building is doing nothing to advance their cause.

“This is not political protest; it is out and out yobbery.

"It is not winning them support; it is losing them what support they might have had because people are getting heartily sick of footing the bill for such puerile vandalism.

“The council has taken the point and is exploring what action it can take within legal constraints.

"Flinging even more paint at the council’s offices is not going to speed up that process.”

The County Gazette reported on Wednesday, April 24, that Somerset Council had voted to “explore all ways of legally evicting” Elbit from the council-owned building in Bristol.

Councillor Brian Smedley (Labour councillor of Bridgwater South) proposed the recommendations which were seconded by Councillor Shane Collins (Green Party, Frome East).

An Elbit Systems UK spokesperson is denying the activists' claims that they are supplying weapons to the Israeli Defence Forces.

"We continue to invest and expand our range of services in the United Kingdom, providing critical support and advanced technology to the British armed forces from Aztec West 600 and other sites across the country," they said.