Only a few weeks ago the Government lost a vote in the Lords on the Public Order Bill to change the interpretation of “serious disruption” of other people’s day-to-day activities to mean “anything more than minor” and now the government are now trying to reinsert this change via secondary legislation which has less Parliamentary scrutiny and can’t be amended in any way. Baroness Jenny Jones has tabled a fatal motion to stop their proposal from becoming law.

If we lose the Lords vote on this Fatal Motion on Tuesday 13th June, then it allows Ministers, for the first time ever, to overturn a parliamentary vote against a new law. It sets a precedent where a government can lose votes in Parliament, when trying to pass legislation, then simply have the same laws waved through as regulations. It undermines the whole system of parliamentary democracy and allows government by diktat. 

Labour needs to work with the other opposition parties to stop this legislation in its tracks. They have put a motion of regret, which opposes the government proposal, but doesn’t change anything.

The government says this new law is about Just Stop Oil but in truth it will hurt anyone who ever wants to organise a protest or assembly – anyone from Friends of the Earth to local people raising an issue outside a council meeting. It allows the police and the home office to effectively decide what is a good or bad protest.

You can sign the petition here