Public Order Bill

Will the Home Secretary give way—already?

I think I will make some progress, if that is okay.

This Conservative Government understand...

I am particularly interested in seeing whether this Bill will target people such as Extinction Re...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We should not tolerate behaviour that prevents people from go...

I thank the Home Secretary for giving way, and I hope she gives way to my Front-Bench colleague, ...

Order. The hon. Gentleman indicated to me that he would like to speak in the debate, and that he ...

Let me put the hon. Gentleman’s remarks into context. First and foremost, the right to protest is...

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I give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Jonathan Gullis) and then I wil...

The Home Secretary talks about the “Just Stop Oil” protests. Does she share my concern that those...

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. Again, as a country and as a House, we are confronte...

I will give way to the hon. Member for Weaver Vale (Mike Amesbury) because he stood up first.

I thank the Home Secretary for giving way. In the Trident retail park in my constituency, a young...

The hon. Gentleman highlights an absolutely appalling case of serious violence against his consti...

I prefer the cheery version of the Home Secretary, if I am honest. In my constituency, we have a ...

First, let me thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. If I may, I am going to offer him th...

Five years ago, in the run-up to the 2017 general election, an organised group of people forced t...

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. He highlights the appalling nature of what we see. That ...

On the offence of locking on, the Bill states:

“It is a defence for a person charged…to pro...

The right hon. Gentleman naturally raises the type of questions that will also be brought up in t...

On the offence of locking on, we have seen people gluing themselves to various roads and gates an...

Yes, and my hon. Friend highlights just some of the tactics that are used. I have seen the sheer ...

I am really concerned that the Bill will allow police officers to stop and search protesters with...

To put this into context, I remind the House that Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary and ...

I am a little concerned about the point raised by the right hon. Member for Dundee East (Stewart ...

Outcomes will be for the court to decide, but it is worth noting the numbers of arrests at recent...

Is the Home Secretary aware that there is a direct comparison between the Russian law on assembli...

With respect to the hon. Gentleman, equating the actions of the Russian state to suppress the vie...

My constituents are horrified by disruption that prevents people from getting to hospital or work...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right; her constituents are right to be outraged and concerned, and ...

I may be the sole dissenting voice on the Government Benches about some of these provisions. When...

I thank my hon. Friend for his question and comments; he is absolutely right. That is the purpose...

I beg to move,

That this House declines to give a Second Reading to the Public Order Bill b...

Will the right hon. Lady give way?

Do you know what, Madam Deputy Speaker? I actually will. I was deeply disappointed that once agai...

When Labour Front Benchers called for “an immediate nationwide ban” on Just Stop Oil, did they ha...

I think that there is a strong case for using injunctions to deal with the kind of disruption tha...

The right hon. Lady has made an assertion that the Bill does nothing to help victims or to reduce...

No, I do not. I will come on to that point later, because both HMRC and, astonishingly, the Home ...

In addition to what the right hon. Lady has just said, does she agree that the terrible statistic...

The rape prosecution rate is one of the most shocking figures of all. For only 1.3% of reported r...

My right hon. Friend is making a powerful speech. Does she agree that protests are noisy, and tha...

Order. This should be an intervention, not a speech. The hon. Lady should not be reading an inter...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Government need to reco...

My hon. Friend is certainly right to suggest that it is an unwise Government who try to silence t...

Will the right hon. Lady give way?

I will in due course.

The Home Secretary said to us this afternoon:

“From day one, th...

rose—

I will give way first to the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Dr Lewis), and then to the ho...

I cannot see what these general points about the record of individual Ministers have to do with t...

I do not think this is about bellowing; I think this is about serious offences and the committing...

I have been listening to the right hon. Lady, but I would appreciate some clarity. Does she conde...

I was going to come on to exactly that, because Insulate Britain’s motorway protests were hugely ...

I will first give way to the hon. Member for North East Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller), next to my...

I was following the right hon. Lady’s argument until this last piece, where she outlined a series...

That is exactly the point that I am about to make, because the Bill does not address any of those...

My right hon. Friend will correct me if I am wrong, but if I have got it right, this Bill will cr...

My right hon. Friend makes an important point: people across the country want to be able to prote...

I thank the right hon. Lady for giving me a second bite of the cherry. I fear I have to confess t...

There are two different issues: there are issues in respect of the kinds of protests that might c...

Will the right hon. Lady give way before she moves on?

I will give way once, but I really want to get to the detail of the issues in the Bill.

Is there perhaps a case for introducing a retrospective clause, given the confession we just hear...

A retrospective clause might affect not only the right hon. Gentleman but the Prime Minister —not...

I hope that we will manage this afternoon’s debate without a formal time limit, but that will dep...

As is seen week after week, my constituency of the Cities of London and Westminster tends to be t...

I call SNP spokesman Anne McLaughlin.

6.4 pm

“A little inconvenience is more acceptable than a police state”—not my words, but those of a poli...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

No, I am not giving way. There is widespread acceptance that the answer to both of those question...

We must remember that at the time of the Scottish referendum, the SNP leadership promised that it...

What we have here is a once-in-a-fortnight opportunity to bring back legislation that has been re...

This is an important Bill, which I support. During this debate, we have heard a lot from Oppositi...

I am sure we can all agree that we need to protect our freedoms of speech, of protest and of asse...

I will be brief, because I want to make a simple point in support of the new offence of locking o...

Clause 2, “Offence of being equipped for locking on”, says:

“A person commits an offence if...

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that intervention. The fact is that going equipped to commit...

As someone who, for decades, has gone around with a heavy chain and padlock to secure my motorcyc...

I thank my right hon. Friend very much for his intervention. He is absolutely right.

I end ...

The Home Secretary opened the debate by boasting that the Government support the police and, abov...

I am very pleased to speak in this debate, and to speak quite early on as well. I was pleased to ...

My hon. Friend is making a very important point about the role of the Opposition in opposing this...

I very much agree with my hon. Friend’s comments. We have heard—both today, but also outside of t...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will not. This Bill provides further evidence that this Government and Conservative Members get...

We should not be fooled: the measures in this Bill are the very same as those the House of Lords ...

I am honestly and genuinely perplexed by the argument about buffer zones. I agree that the harass...

I support a simple and targeted measure against protests outside clinics that harass women seekin...

In 2019, the people of this country voted for a no-nonsense Government from the Conservative part...

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. Does he think that ordinary people wanting tough measures ...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is regrettable that we have not been about to do much abou...

My hon. Friend is making some good points in a great speech. He will be aware of a prolific nuisa...

I thank my hon. Friend for making those points. In exposing himself, that individual probably mad...

Does my hon. Friend agree that everyone in the House knows that if we want to get things done, we...

My hon. Friend is quite right. If he was also referring to the individual whom we just described,...

It is important that we always have regard to the scope and scale of the legislation that we intr...

rose—

Let me finish this point, so that I can explain. In my constituency, we have gone through the dem...

Is that not just the nature of democracy? Ultimately, in the longer term, we win or lose argument...

Fair enough. [Interruption.] No, the hon. Gentleman makes a proper point in the debate, no matter...

It seems to me that the right hon. Gentleman feels that sometimes direct action is justified, but...

My constituents and I have taken the view that because expansion is such a threat to our communit...

Does the right hon. Gentleman acknowledge that sentencing is not just about handing out a punishm...

The problem is—and here I follow the advice of Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary and fir...

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that these draconian measures are a sign of the weakness of a...

I will finish on the motivation in a minute or two.

On stop and search, in my constituency,...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

Can I not this time? The hon. Member will understand.

Let me just say this on the serious d...

The people of Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke warmly welcome this important legislation...

My hon. Friend is right that these are largely deranged members of the bourgeoise making working ...

My right hon. Friend makes a fantastic point. Let us think about the people who were not able to ...

The hon. Gentleman keeps going on about criminals, saying “We’ve got to get rid of these criminal...

I thank the hon. Lady for that intervention. She says that I talk about criminals. She referred e...

It is very pleasing to see that my hon. Friend has finally come off the fence in support of this ...

I could not agree more. I think we do need to organise a trip round the red wall so that Labour M...

I do not even want to thank the hon. Member for giving way to me, because frankly, his speech is ...

Well, Croydon spoke quite loudly, if I remember correctly, by deciding to elect a Conservative Ma...

It is always an experience to speak after the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Jonathan Gull...

I am not in denial about the importance of dealing with the climate emergency, but does the hon. ...

That individual has made their comments, but I guess the question we have to ask is who are the c...

The hon. Gentleman talks about motivations. May I ask about the Labour party’s motivations from t...

Trade union money is the cleanest money in British politics. [Laughter.] The hon. Gentleman can q...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I will make some progress.

The issue of freedom goes to the heart of the Bill. Conserva...

Order. Along with a gentle reminder about the word “you”, may I remind hon. Members that it was s...

Now then: I will try to keep my speech brief and, in my usual fashion, I will try not to be contr...

Given all the crises that we are facing in our country, it speaks volumes that the first Bill of ...

The hon. Lady speaks about stop and search. She will know that during a two-year period up to 202...

I have no issue with evidence-based stop and search. If there is a reason to stop somebody, that ...

This country has allowed and tolerated protests for centuries. I am not convinced that many prote...

The hon. Gentleman has said that he is not aware that protest had done anything worthwhile. What ...

The right hon. Lady is a long-standing Member of this House, and she is enormously respected by m...

My hon. Friend seems to be distinguishing between peaceful protest, of which there is a long trad...

As always, my right hon. Friend is absolutely correct. Interference with key national infrastruct...

There is an inconsistency here that is just breathtaking. The hon. Member for Ashfield (Lee Ander...

If the right hon. Gentleman wants to relive the battles of the 1980s, and if he wants to say that...

I notice that the right hon. Member for Dundee East (Stewart Hosie) described people who went to ...

I agree wholeheartedly with that point.

Let us get back to the substance of this debate. I ...

We face a multitude of crises on many fronts. I totally agree with my hon. Friend the Member for ...

Is my hon. Friend as alarmed as I am to hear Conservative Members talk of the need for the police...

I totally agree with my right hon. Friend. Her comments are very worrying when we think of the yo...

I am grateful for the fact that this Bill will protect the rights of everyday men and women acros...

Was my hon. Friend as shocked as I was to hear the Home Secretary say that more than £175 million...

I could not agree more. I am delighted to see 13,000 more police officers on our streets, and I w...

My hon. Friend is making a compelling case for the Bill. We have heard from the Bill’s critics th...

My right hon. Friend is entirely right. These actions undermine public support and sympathy for g...

This is a deeply dangerous Bill, and I am pleased to support the reasoned amendments. The measure...

The hon. Lady is making a powerful speech from her perspective. Could she ever consider a circums...

As others have said, evidence-based stop and search—where there is evidence and a good reason—is ...

I wanted to ask whether the hon. Lady, notwithstanding her objection to the banning of protest, s...

I disagree with the premise of the Minister’s intervention. I have been proudly at the forefront ...

Will the hon. Member give way?

No, I will not.

Protest is, by definition, disruptive. I can promise Government Members tha...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas). She certainly...

Locking on.

I thank my hon. Friend. I have no clue what locking on is. I do not know. Some colleagues have ma...

The issue is not just the extension of stop and search but many of the extensions in the Bill. I ...

The right hon. Gentleman is entitled to his point of view about the broader panoply; my point is ...

Surely, large protests such as the ones we saw over the Iraq war or the hunting ban, would have e...

I do; that was why I said that the Bill is at its best when it focuses on those things. I am just...

Many of the rights that we take for granted today were largely not born of the spontaneous goodwi...

I just thought I would take the opportunity to deal with the “serious disruption” issue. My hon. ...

I welcome the Minister’s contribution but, as he well knows, case law differentiates and changes ...

It is an absolute pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Salford and Eccles (Rebecca Lo...

Legislation passed in 2007 turned trespass in this place into criminal trespass, so what the hon....

The hon. Gentleman understates the significance of that process, which fundamentally changed our ...

Here we go again: illiberal legislation on public order and regulating protest boomeranging back ...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

No, because other people still want to speak. The so-called hon. Gentleman has eaten up everyone’...

This is the first Bill of the Queen’s Speech and it is stark proof that the Government are out of...

It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham) and to ...

The Bill is a draconian piece of legislation that undermines our democracy. It is the sort of Bil...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

No, I will not give way because of time. Causing obstruction at a site of key national infrastruc...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

No, I will not. I believe that Welsh MPs will reject the Bill tonight. I will wrap up with one fi...

Will the hon. Member give way?

No, I will not. As I said at the outset, there are sufficient laws in existence to deal with prot...

When this Tory Government were elected in December 2019, pundits asked about their agenda. They w...

Will the hon. Member give way?

No. Many people have told you that, so please just stay sitting down.

The Northern Ireland ...

Order. It is important that hon. Members do not address one another directly in that way, but I d...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

We also see this in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Cour...

It says everything we need to know about this Government’s priorities that their first Bill since...

I call the shadow Minister, Sarah Jones.

9.24 pm

It is a pleasure to follow all the contributions that have been made today.

As you know, Ma...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

No! Keep going.

I hear heckling. I will keep going for a minute. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will listen to my pil...

I have been listening carefully to the hon. Member, and she is making an interesting speech, but ...

The hon. Gentleman is talking about the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, which we o...

The hon. Lady is making a powerful speech and some good points. She talks passionately about prot...

I am not sure that today is the right day to be talking about people who have broken lockdown rul...

Before I call the Minister, I remind colleagues that it is extremely discourteous to both Front B...

I have listened to others with pleasure, Madam Deputy Speaker. We have had a debate with a vigoro...

The Minister talks about the extension of the powers of stop and search in the Bill; will he conf...

It would depend on which part of the Bill they used for their powers. In essence, they would be s...

Does my right hon. Friend remember recently visiting my Peterborough constituency? He saw it for ...

I do agree with my hon. Friend, but you do not have to take it from me, Madam Deputy Speaker. You...

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Over the weekend and this morning, Government Minister...

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her point of order. As she said, she is referring to statement...