Public Order Bill

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Lords amendment 5, and amendment ...

I have tabled my amendment because the Bill, in its current form, has a problem. The part of the ...

If my hon. Friend were to go on Twitter now, he would find a recording of an arresting officer te...

I could not agree more with my right hon. Friend, and that is the concern. The part of the Bill I...

I commend the hon. Gentleman for tabling this amendment. Does he agree that the Government could ...

It does cause reputational damage to the police; the videos that some colleagues have seen are hu...

No one, in any part of the House, wants women or anyone else to be harassed while going about the...

Indeed. The Lords amendment extends something that is already disturbing, as we see in some of th...

There is an important detail missing from what my hon. Friend just said, as I understand that whe...

That is exactly right, and I thank my hon. Friend for that contribution. Indeed, the question ask...

My hon. Friend is speaking first in the debate, so I would like to give him an opportunity to ant...

That is an extremely important part of this amendment—it makes sure that those protections are ve...

Which is precisely why successive Prime Ministers and Health Secretaries, including the current C...

It is, and that is an important point. This is not a debate about opinions on abortion. Opinions ...

May I first seek your advice, Mr Deputy Speaker? May I speak to the other amendments on the order...

Please speak only to the amendments that are before us today.

Thank you for your guidance, Mr Deputy Speaker: I just wanted to be clear.

I have some symp...

I am sympathetic to what the hon. Gentleman is saying, and I support him in his cause this aftern...

That is the point I was just making, and I thank the hon. Gentleman for repeating it.

The p...

The hon. Gentleman is making a powerful point. Is it not the case that this Bill removes from the...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for making that point. He is right that the British state claimed hist...

I was just trying to communicate that at some point we need to be aware that there are quite a fe...

I appreciate your guidance, Madam Deputy Speaker; I am about to finish on this point.

The d...

Order. It will be clear that quite a few hon. and right hon. Members wish to speak in the debate....

May I start by commending the hon. Member for Hemsworth (Jon Trickett)? I agree very much with wh...

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis). Our view ...

I rise in support of Lords amendments 6 and 20 and to urge the Government not to strike them out....

There is some factual confusion about this, and I am grateful for the opportunity to clear that u...

I am relieved to hear that.

The Minister is quite right—that describes exactly what the Government are doing—but he has left ...

We are so lucky to benefit from my right hon. Friend’s wisdom, which has been built up over a 30-...

There is lots to consider today. I share the concerns that have been expressed about things like ...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I don’t want to eat up time. There are a lot of people and I’m in the middle of a sentence, so, n...

Will the hon. Lady give way at the end of her sentence?

I know that the hon. Gentleman is jumping up and down, thinking, “Red light here,” but if he will...

Will the hon. Member give way?

Okay, I will give way now.

I thank the hon. Member for giving way. The issue of “for or against abortion” is really not what...

Well, I would say to the hon. Gentleman that there is a time and a place for everything. Regardin...

Will the hon. Member give way?

I want to carry on for a minute, actually.

Some of the tactics that such people employ incl...

The hon. Member is making a good and powerful point. Several people have written to me about the ...

I completely agree. These things are always subjective, so someone might say, “I’m just praying. ...

The hon. Lady is making an excellent speech. Does she share my frustration at the number of men w...

Order. It is important that we do not personalise the issue. That goes for everybody in the Chamb...

I completely accept what the hon. Lady just said. As a woman, Madam Deputy Speaker, you know that...

I apologise to my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton South (Andrew Lewer), because His Majest...

The hon. Gentleman and knight of the realm makes a completely incontestable point. When we last v...

I was elected to this place in a free and fair election, and I come here and say not what I am as...

Surely the point that we have to be careful about is the use of words—which the hon. Member for E...

My right hon. Friend will be pleased—but not surprised, given that he knows me so well—to hear th...

It is not a matter of interpretation, because it seems to me that this amendment would create exa...

I do not know how often my hon. Friend prays—maybe more often than I do, although my need to do s...

This is an extremely important point. I do not think anyone in this House wants to restrict anyon...

But in a free society the impact we make on others by our sentiments, by what we do, say and, ind...

I will not give way again; I see that you, Madam Deputy Speaker, if not yet on your feet, are edg...

I will confine my comments to the amendments that touch on the recommendations of the Joint Commi...

I am extremely grateful to the hon. and learned Lady for giving way. On a point of clarification,...

I am not sure the Minister is right about that. I think what he is trying to say is that the poli...

I think what the Minister is trying to point out is that before the 24-hour period where the susp...

The Minister must know that we are still bound by the European convention on human rights. Clearl...

rose—

The Minister will get to speak at the end. I do not want to take up too much time as I have alrea...

I have spoken in favour of this legislation in each of its stages thus far. I would like to conti...

I commend the way in which the hon. Member for Northampton South (Andrew Lewer) spoke to the amen...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will make this point, and then I will give way.

We are all aware of the Bible story about...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Of course I will give way to the Minister.

The Government are not saying anything about this matter. It is a free vote, and there is no Gove...

I look forward to the Minister joining me in the Lobby this evening.

Whenever we walk into ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I want to make this point. I will give way later.

I think that Members need to stop and ser...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I am going to make this point. I promise I will give way after that.

The hon. Member for Ea...

I would like the hon. Member to help me understand why it is particularly important that prayer m...

The gospel of Matthew is a wonderful gospel—as a son of the manse, I know a little bit about this...

The point that the hon. Gentleman has just made is incredibly important. In the circumstances tha...

Order. It is important that interventions are short, and I know that the hon. Member for North An...

I will conclude now, Madam Deputy Speaker.

I agree with the point that the hon. Member has ...

I rise to speak to amendment (a) to Lords amendment 5.

I recognise that there is a genuine ...

I agree with everything my hon. Friend says, but my concern is about the motivation for a person ...

I recognise that, but the difficulty is that none of us can know their motivation. I can accept t...

I utterly respect the sincerity with which amendment (a) to Lords amendment 5 was moved and why m...

The behaviour that will not be taken as harassment is private prayer. Other actions that may be t...

When we legislate, being specific matters. So let us be clear: the amendment proposed by the hon....

The difficulty is with the private prayer—the silent prayer; that is what we are trying to protec...

Let me just give the hon. Gentleman the example of Ealing, where we have had our zone since 2018—...

Okay, well, I will wind up now, because I think the point has been well rehearsed. My concern is ...

Policing by consent is central to how our criminal justice system works in the UK and the authori...

The Government accept that protection for journalists might helpfully be set out, and that is why...

I am pleased to hear that.

If Lords amendment 1 is disagreed to and Government amendment (a...

As I said in my earlier intervention, the Government have accepted that serious disruption preven...

I am grateful to the Minister for that clarification, but the point I made while he was not in hi...

I rise to speak to Lords amendment 5 and the amendments to it put forward by my hon. Friend the M...

I have immense respect for many people who have spoken in the debate. I am sorry that the right h...

rose—

I have no doubt that the right hon. Gentleman will intervene with some rhetorical flourish about ...

The hon. Lady has provoked me to intervene and to be rhetorical as well, but I simply say this to...

It is an irony to me that Members of the party that once claimed to be the party of law and order...

It is worth looking at what amendment (a) states. It states:

“No offence is committed under...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

I am not going to give way to my hon. Friend, who has intervened many times already. I have been ...

I remain of the view that the Bill is draconian and anti-democratic, and represents a frightening...

Thank you for selecting the amendments to Lords amendment 5, Madam Deputy Speaker. I would first ...

That seems to be the nub of the challenge. Does the hon. Gentleman accept that, although he does ...

The hon. Member has clearly read my notes, because I am coming to that exact point. In response t...

I call the shadow Minister.

I rise to speak on Lords amendments 1, 5, 6 and 20, beginning with the definition of “serious dis...

Does the shadow Minister agree that this provision is extraordinary, because there is often disru...

The hon. Gentleman has made many good points already this afternoon, and I entirely agree;

...

Does the hon. Lady accept that the evidence from the abortion buffer zones that exist at present ...

I do not agree with that interpretation at all. We have public space protection orders around som...

Just to make the obvious point, the whole purpose of the buffer zones legislation is to create an...

The hon. Member is completely right. The amendment also risks driving a coach and horses through ...

What the hon. Lady just said is completely and utterly wrong—the chuntering on the Government Ben...

I remind the hon. Gentleman that we have voted in this House and the other place for the safe acc...

We must be clear that nobody is banning praying. We are saying that there is a time and a place t...

I completely agree. Having talked to the police for nearly three years in this role, I know that ...

As always, it is a great pleasure to follow my constituency neighbour, the hon. Member for Croydo...

Will the Minister confirm something for the sake of clarity? In the past, major peaceful demonstr...

Yes, it would. My right hon. Friend pre-empts my next point, which I think an Opposition Member r...

Before my hon. Friend moves on to this subject, will he give way?

In just a moment.

As the hon. Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East (Stuar...

I think we all accept that suspicionless stop and search can be triggered quite rightly, for exam...

I do not accept that. When there is a reasonable suspicion that in the next 24 hours offences may...

I hear what the Minister says about that, and he has heard the strong opinions expressed from thi...

My right hon. Friend is putting me on the spot a little bit. I would like to reiterate that the G...

I respect the fact that the Minister has his own personal opinion. For the avoidance of doubt, ca...

I think we will ultimately have to defer to the Attorney General, but my understanding is that th...