BBC News reports:
The government has suffered a series of defeats in the House of Lords over its plans to clamp down on disruptive and noisy protesters.
Opposition peers voted against a range of measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, with Labour calling some of the plans “outrageous”.
Peers also voted to make misogyny a hate crime in England and Wales in another government defeat.
Baroness (Liz) Barker tweeted:
So let’s just check. Yep. That’s 14 (yes, FOURTEEN) defeats for the Government on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill today 👀
This awful piece of legislation looks a little better tonight. Time for the Government to acknowledge what’s happened today – and to respond.
— Lib Dem Lords (@LibDemLords) January 18, 2022
Lord (Brian) Paddick, our spokesperson on Home Affairs in the House of Lords tweeted:
And they did come in, stay & vote and we did amend the #PoliceBill.
I am so grateful to every single me ever of the @UKHouseofLords who voted with us last night, including every @Conservatives peer who did not support the Government. https://t.co/CptMsLFAjq
— Brian Paddick (@brianpaddick) January 18, 2022
Sky News quotes Brian as saying:
If the government is determined to bring in these draconian, anti-democratic laws, reminiscent of Cold War eastern bloc police states, they should withdraw them now and introduce them as a separate bill to allow the democratically elected House time to properly consider them.
The anti-protest measures in the original bill were dreadful. These measures and the way they have been introduced are outrageous.
More on this later from our Second Chamber watcher, Mark Valladares.
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3 Comments
This is why we need the House of Lords. My heartfelt thanks to peers from all parties who stood up to this nonsense.
This is why we need a properly elected revising chamber or Second Chamber.
Unelected people should not be passing/amending laws in a democracy. Although of course while we are stuck with this medieval hangover we have to make the best of it just as we have to do with FPTP elections.
It’s sad that it takes an unelected chamber to save us from a government that has no respect for democracy.
The government inserted the worst clauses into this draconian Bill after it had cleared the Commons, so Parliament hadn’t had the chance to scrutinise them. At least now they’ll get that chance, if the government reinserts them.
The right to protest is a fundamental right, which these clauses would have shut down. How can anyone guarantee a protest won’t be ‘noisy’?