After voting through the damaging and extreme Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in 2022, the Government now wants to pass more anti-protest legislation that will target peaceful protestors and further attack our civil liberties. The Public Order Bill, which returns to the Commons today (Tuesday 7 March) threatens to silence communities from using their democratic right to freedom of speech and assembly. This will be particularly damaging to our poorest and most marginalised communities.

This Bill will create new offences relating to public order, including ‘locking-on’, going equipped to lock-on, and obstructing major transport works and national infrastructure. The Bill will also extend stop and search powers and introduce serious disruption prevention orders that will target repeat protesters.  The Police and Courts already have powers to deal with serious disruption and I believe it is wrong to introduce measures that will target peaceful protests and passers-by.

It’s the wrong priorities from a Government that’s failing to bring forward the Victims Bill we do need as they instead push this draconian legislation through.  Last week, I held my In Conversation session about the criminal justice system where my panellists discussed how, after 12 years of Tory austerity, the criminal justice system is crumbling and victims and communities are being let down. Victims of serious crime are now waiting years to see justice – a record 1.3 million victims are dropping out every year because they have lost confidence in the system. Even though the number of rape and other sexual offences reported to the police are at their highest level on record, prosecution is at a record low. Where is the Government’s much-needed and much-promised Victims Bill? Once again, it is another Tory broken promise.

In the Lords, Labour removed some of the worst elements of this Bill by supporting several positive amendments.  This includes ditching a measure to let police exercise stop and search without suspicion to tackle disruptive demonstrations, and voting down the right to automatically arrest protestors on a slow march. The Lords have also introduced an amendment that will stop those reporting on protestors from being subject to police action – this was seriously needed after reporters and photographers were detained at the Just Stop Oil demonstration last year.

Sadly the Government intend to reverse the bulk of these changes, and instead introduce powers that even ex-Police chiefs have said are “using a sledgehammer to crack a nut”.

I believe the right to peaceful protest is a vital part of any democracy and it is an important part of British history that through the generations people have been able to make their voices heard and to campaign against decisions made by the powerful. The Public Order Bill is undemocratic and dangerous and this is why my Labour colleagues and I will not support this Bill and will do everything we can to speak out against this worrying direction of governance.