The Minister will get to speak at the end. I do not want to take up too much time as I have already spoken for five minutes and I do not want to upset Madam Deputy Speaker. The Minister can take the tenor of the comments so far across the House, including from the Government Benches. People are not happy about the power to stop and search without reasonable suspicion. The cross-party Committee of MPs and peers shared that unhappiness.
4.30 pm
We also recommended the removal from the Bill of the power to impose serious disruption prevention disorders. We did so on the basis that they are an unnecessary response to disruptive protest given the host of other powers that the police already have, and because they could result in disproportionate interference and outright bans on the exercise of people’s rights under articles 10 and 11. The Lords amendments on this issue go a long way towards meeting our recommendation, principally by removing from the Bill SDPOs that are imposed otherwise than on conviction, and by removing the power to monitor recipients electronically. We support that. We see the Government’s proposed alternative amendments as pretty minor and do not think they will be sufficient to protect article 10 and 11 rights. We would like SDPOs to go completely from the Bill but we think that the Lords amendments make quite a significant difference, and therefore are worthy of common support.
Finally, on the meaning of “serious disruption” in the Bill, the Joint Committee on Human Rights noted a lack of any definition of that term, and how that created uncertainty that risks a breach of the rights of those affected by it. We recommended a definition of serious disruption be added to the Bill, which is not dissimilar to that in Lords amendment 1. It is important that any definition of serious disruption should genuinely confine the powers in the Bill to actions causing serious disruption. Anything else would risk disproportionate interference with the right to protest under articles 10 and 11 of the convention. The Government’s proposed amendment in lieu would insert a definition that is not suited to the term that it defines. It does not define serious disruption and it would reduce the threshold to such an extent that almost any disruption in day-to-day activity could justify police action against peaceful protesters. That would not comply with the convention on human rights. I think I will leave it at that.