Liberal Democrats Fight Draconian Measures in the Public Order Bill

Today, Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords have strongly opposed the Government’s draconian Public Order Bill. 

This Bill is yet another desperate Conservative attempt to distract from their incompetence by giving the police yet more unnecessary powers.

Having served as a Public Order Specialist in the Metropolitan Police, I know the limiting factor in controlling protests is the lack of suitably trained police officers, not inadequate police powers, and currently serving police officers agree with me.

Of course, no one should be obstructing ambulances from taking patients to hospital, but those found guilty of obstructing our roads can already be sent to prison, and some are already behind bars. This Government wants more. 

These are about cracking down on everyone’s rights to peacefully gather and to protest. These rights are fundamental to democracy and our principles as liberals. We will not stand by as this Government strips them away from us.

The already disgraced Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, is pushing for new powers to:

● Ban people from future protests even if they’ve never been to a protest before and have never been convicted of any offence

● Give the police even more ‘stop and search’ powers, including blanket powers to search without any reason to suspect someone of wrongdoing

● Target climate change protestors 

People could be banned from protests based on rumour or gossip on the balance of probabilities but sent to prison if they breach any of the conditions imposed on them, which could include being electronically tagged. All this for merely encouraging or facilitating a protest that ends-up causing disruption, even if they did not know that would be the result. 

These new laws will not only restrict the democratic rights of every citizen, but they will also disproportionately affect those from minority backgrounds – you’re 19 times more likely to be targeted by the police if you’re black under existing suspicionless stop and search powers.

Many minorities feel they are not represented in Parliament, so their right to protest is even more important, and yet they are the most likely to be discouraged from taking to the streets by these dreadful new laws.

As Liberal Democrats, we will not tolerate this clear assault on our human rights. 

Alongside my Liberal Democrat colleagues in the House of Lords, we will fight this Bill every step of the way.