A win for our right to protest
The House of Lords dealt a serious blow to the Government’s Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Bill last Monday.
They stayed late into the evening to defeat the Government on fourteen amendments to the draconian anti-protest bill.
Lord Peter Hain, a Labour Peer, described the Bill as “an authoritarian attack on the fundamental liberties of our citizens.”
“If enacted in past generations, it would have throttled the suffragettes and blocked their ability to rattle Parliament’s cage to secure votes for women.”
The House of Commons will be able to overturn some of the Lords’ amendments to the Bill - but not all.
Because the Government added extra parts to the Bill after it had passed through the Commons, the Lords were able to remove these parts entirely, and the Government cannot reinstate them in the Commons.
These parts include some of the most draconian measures, including:
Criminalising protests that are too ‘noisy’
Giving the police power to stop and search protesters without a reason
Making ‘locking on’ an offence
Giving the courts the power to ban regular protestors from attending certain protests
This is a major victory for the huge coalition of civil society organisations, including Unlock Democracy, who are fighting tooth and nail against this Bill.
These defeats are also good news for our campaign against the Elections Bill. The House of Lords have shown that they are not afraid to defend our democratic rights, so now we need to persuade them to defeat the Government on the Elections Bill. We are working with our coalition of democratic organisations to get the ball rolling on this.
The backing of our supporters will be crucial as we continue fighting against these bills.
Will you help us by donating to Unlock Democracy today?