The West London clinic has been subject to protests for nearly 25 years, largely spearheaded by anti-choice network The Good Counsel Network.

The ban, which was first backed in October, is now due to proceed to the next stage after nearly 4,000 local residents signed a petition backing it, and would mean that protestors would be banned from “approaching or monitoring women accessing the clinic, congregating in large groups, displaying distressing images and using amplification equipment”.

Speaking in 2017, when the ban was first proposed, MP Rupa Huq said she hoped that “very soon we will see no one outside the gates of the clinic, so these women can have the anonymity they need”.

“For three decades I have been fuming that these so-called pro-life protesters have been able to upset women seeking medical treatment with their wildly medically inaccurate foetus representations designed to cause alarm, shock and distress,” she said.

“Ealing Council is committed to ending the intimidation and harassment faced by those seeking legally available medical support,” said council leader Julian Bell. “Since Ealing first raised this issue, it has become clear that behaviour of this kind is happening at clinics across the country. We need ministers to come forward with a national solution to this problem, giving councils and police appropriate powers to prevent intimidation and distress.”

London council to ban anti-abortion protesters from a clinic