IMPORTANT VICTORY BUT THE FIGHT GOES ON

Lords defeat Government on plans to restrict our right to protest 

On Monday 17th January 2022 the government was defeated 14 times over its plans to restrict and criminalise the right to protest. The House of Lords passed 14 amendments removing and rejecting sections in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill that would criminalise “annoying” and “noisy” protests and extend stop-and-search powers, among other things.

The removal of these parts of the Policing Bill is a big blow for the Tory government’s draconian agenda. Thank you to everyone who campaigned, demonstrated, signed petitions, wrote to and spoke to politicians to try and defeat this Bill. However, the fight is not over yet. 

The amended Bill will go back to the House of Commons for further discussion and votes. We all need to continue to write to our MPs and campaign to ensure that these authoritarian measures stay out of the Bill. 

This government has shown that it still wants to silence those who criticise it. We must stand together to reject their attempts to bring in such wide ranging restrictions on our right to protest. It is an attack on vital human rights for all of us. 

This government will continue to erode our capacity to try to hold them to account, at the ballot box, in parliament, in the courts and on the streets. We must not let that happen.