Home Secretary tells MPs to reject ‘mob rule’ and back new law cracking down on criminal protest tactics
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Home Secretary Priti Patel is tomorrow (Monday 23 May) expected to
tell MPs to reject ‘mob rule’ and support measures in a new Public
Order Bill aimed at tackling the relentless, anti-social and
disruptive protest tactics being used by a selfish minority. The
Bill will give police the tools they need to crack down on the
dangerous and highly disruptive behaviour of the few who – in the
name of protest – have wrought havoc for people going about their
daily lives, at...Request free trial
Home Secretary Priti Patel is tomorrow (Monday 23 May) expected to tell MPs to reject ‘mob rule’ and support measures in a new Public Order Bill aimed at tackling the relentless, anti-social and disruptive protest tactics being used by a selfish minority. The Bill will give police the tools they need to crack down on the dangerous and highly disruptive behaviour of the few who – in the name of protest – have wrought havoc for people going about their daily lives, at a cost of millions of pounds to the taxpayer, and diverted the police away from fighting crime to make our streets safer. Crucially, measures in the Bill will better protect transport networks and fuel supply after groups like Insulate Britain have brought motorways to a standstill and Just Stop Oil have disrupted fuel supply by tunnelling under oil terminals and cutting the brakes on tankers, racking up a cost to policing of over £5.9 million in a matter of months. In line with that, a new offence of obstructing major transport works will attract a maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both and the courts will have new powers to make people subject to Serious Disruption Prevention Orders for repeatedly inflicting disruption on the public wear an electronic tag, to ensure they are not in a particular place to commit a protest-related offence. Breach of a Serious Disruption Prevention Order is similarly a criminal offence carrying a maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both. The Bill will also amend the seniority of a police officer in London who can attach conditions to an upcoming protest or prohibit a trespassory assembly to match that in forces outside of London. This will spread the burden of setting conditions on protests in London more evenly across the senior leadership of the City of London Police and Metropolitan Police. Opening the Second Reading debate in the House of Commons, Priti Patel is expected to say: “From Day One, this Government has put the safety and interests of the law-abiding majority first… but recently we have seen a rise in criminal, disruptive, and self-defeating tactics - from a supremely selfish minority. Their actions divert police resources away from the communities where they are needed most… and we are seeing parts of the country grind to a halt… This is reprehensible behaviour and I will not tolerate it.” Despite recent guerrilla-style criminal protest activity causing misery for the public, preventing them from getting to work, taking children to school or even getting to hospital, the measures contained in this Bill were previously blocked by the House of Lords during the passage of what is now the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act. The freedom to protest is fundamental to our democracy, but our police must be able to stop criminal acts which bring our society, including our emergency services, to a standstill. This distinction, between exercising democratic protest rights and selfish criminal acts, is one the public have seen and understand. A recent YouGov poll showed that 63% of the public were in favour of tougher measures to tackle disruptive ‘lock-on’ tactics. As she addresses MPs, the Home Secretary is expected to add: “I will not stand by and let anti-social individuals keep causing misery and chaos for others. The Public Order Bill will empower the police to take more proactive action to protect the rights of the public to go about their lives in peace. However passionately one believes in a cause, we do not make policy through mob rule in this country… . I will not be deterred from backing the police and standing up for the law-abiding majority, and that’s what the Public Order Bill does.” The Bill will advance on the PCSC Act, strengthening our public order laws in response to the most recent guerrilla tactics seen this year. As announced in the Queen’s Speech, the Bill will make it a criminal offence to ‘lock-on’, where doing so could cause serious disruption – for example gluing yourself to busy roads or using complex bamboo structures to frustrate the police’s attempts to end disruptive protests. It will also give police the power to proactively stop and search people to seize items intended for this purpose. Interfering with key national infrastructure will also become a criminal offence and could attract a penalty of up to 12 months’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both. With peers in the House of Lords having previously withheld support for these measures at least in part on account of MPs in the House of Commons not having had the chance properly to scrutinise them, this new Bill allows for exactly that and tomorrow’s debate provides the first opportunity for them to do so. ENDS Notes to editors: Costs to policing
New measures and penalties
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