Category: protest

Crime and Policing Bill Committee Stage Day 10

Published on by jonesjb

At some point we have to accept that the police’s use of Facial Recognition Software needs regulation. We cannot accept that the police constantly mark their own homework. We were reassured that all the flaws in the algorithm and so on had been fixed, but clearly we cannot be sure of that because we do not have any way of knowing exactly what the flaws were and who has fixed them. Live facial recognition represents a huge departure from long-established principles of British policing. In this country, people are not required to identify themselves to the police unless they are suspected of wrongdoing. Live facial recognition turns that principle on its head by subjecting everyone in range of a camera to an automated identity check. It treats innocent members of the public as potential suspects and undermines the presumption of innocence. Continue reading “Crime and Policing Bill Committee Stage Day 10” →

Crime and Policing Bill Commitee Stage Day 9

Published on by jonesjb

Continue reading “Crime and Policing Bill Commitee Stage Day 9” →

Sentencing Bill Second Reading

Published on by jonesjb

This is obviously a Bill with good aims: to reduce the prison population and put more resources into probation and rehabilitation. However, the problem is that the prison population is going up in the long term because Governments keep coming up with new reasons to lock people up. Continue reading “Sentencing Bill Second Reading” →

Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2025

Published on by jonesjb

Baroness Jenny Jones speech on her Regret Motion:

“There are many reasons why proscribing Palestine Action is a bad idea. Listening to the Minister, I thought that his descriptions of the three organisations had very distinct differences and that the actions of Palestine Action did not appear to have the same calibre of evil as those of the other two. Therefore, collectively organising these three into one SI is perhaps a little bit sneaky of this Government. Palestine Action is not like any other group that the British Government have so far declared a terrorist organisation. I was 12 years on the Met Police Authority and in that time I had lots of anti-terrorist briefings. To me, the actions of Palestine Action do not ring true as terrorist activities. Continue reading “Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2025” →

My debate on Peaceful Protests

Published on by jonesjb

My Question for Short Debate: To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Practical toolkit for law enforcement officials to promote and protect human rights in the context of peaceful protests, published on 7 March by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and how they intend to ensure that the United Kingdom aligns with United Nations standards on the use of surveillance technology at protests. Continue reading “My debate on Peaceful Protests” →

Transitional Biomass Subsidies protest

Published on by jonesjb

On 5th March Biofuelwatch and the Stop Burning Trees Coalition held an emergency demo outside the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in response to the Government’s proposal to offer billions more in new ‘transitional’ subsidies for unabated wood biomass burning. This goes back on previously government policy to stop all subsidies for unabated biomass burning in 2027. The only two power stations eligible for these subsidies are Drax (the UK’s biggest carbon emitter) and Lynemouth. These subsidies have no clear end date in sight, so if approved, could lock us into decades more of forest destruction, pollution of communities and carbon emissions. We called on DESNZ to scrap these plans to keep funding tree burning, and invest in genuine renewables and climate action.