More than a month has passed since the Government set out its legislative priorities in the Queen’s Speech.

The Queen’s Speech was the perfect opportunity for the Government to announce measures to strengthen and modernise our democracy.

New measures to promote accountability and transparency could have brought an end to months of scandal at the heart of Government.

Unfortunately, the Government displayed no willingness to restore trust in our politics.

Instead, they announced plans to endanger our democratic rights, including repealing the Human Rights Act and a clamp down on protestors.

We asked Unlock Democracy supporters for their thoughts on the Government’s plans.  More than 3200 responded.

Here is what our supporters think the Government hopes to achieve, based on this year’s Queen’s Speech:

• “More control, more power in their hands with fewer checks and balances.”

• “Clampdown on any opposition voices”

• “More power with less accountability” 

There were two bills in the Queen’s Speech that our supporters were unhappy with: the Public Order Bill and the British Bill of Rights.

The Public Order Bill

Our supporters expressed concern about the Public Order Bill, which will place further restrictions on protestors.

88% of our supporters said that the Government’s plans to clamp down further on environmental protestors are not justified. Another 5% of our supporters were not sure.

The Public Order Bill brings back late-stage amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act that were thrown out by the House of Lords.

The Bill allows individuals to be banned from taking part in demonstrations if they have caused ‘serious disruption’ in the past. The Bill also gives the police more powers to stop and search individuals at a demonstration without suspicion of a crime being committed.

These proposals interfere with our right to protest, which is fundamental to democratic society.

Moving forward, Unlock Democracy will be working in partnership with other civil society organisations which oppose measures in this Bill.

Repeal of the Human Rights Act

In the Queen’s Speech, the Government also announced its intention to replace the Human Rights Act with a ‘British Bill of Rights.’

This was a big concern for our supporters. 98% of those we surveyed said they do not trust the Government to protect our human rights fully in the new British Bill of Rights. And 93% of supporters said the repeal of the Human Rights Act is one of the proposals they would most like to see Unlock Democracy taking a strong stand against.

A draft of the British Bill of Rights has not been published yet, but what we know so far is concerning.

The Government plans to make it harder for individuals to get their case into court when a public authority has abused its power. Claimants will now have to prove they have suffered “significant disadvantage” before their case can be heard, adding an extra hurdle to the process.

We must resist this attempt to undermine our human rights. That is why we are calling on the Justice Secretary to abandon his plans to ‘overhaul’ the Human Rights Act.

Human rights isn’t something we should take for granted.

If you agree, please sign our petition today