Mansfield and Warsop MP, Ben Bradley, is delighted with today’s announcement that Government is taking further action to crack down on disruptive protests, protecting the public from the misery of protest disruption created by a small minority of activists.
Mr Bradley has consistently urged Government to take a tougher approach towards activist groups, including Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain. Mr Bradley has highlighted his concerns about how recent protests by these groups have hindered emergency services and caused misery for millions of commuters.
That is why, through an amendment to the Public Order Bill, Government is broadening the legal definition of ‘serious disruption’ to clarify when police should intervene to stop tactics such as blocking roads and slow marching.
While the Government has already given police additional powers to prevent protestors using guerrilla tactics, police chiefs have told the Prime Minister that there is some uncertainty over what reaches the threshold of ‘serious disruption’. The changes introduced today will give police officers absolute clarity over when they should step in. In practice, this will mean:
- police will not need to wait for disruption to take place and can shut protests down before chaos erupts
- police will not need to treat a series of protests by the same group as standalone incidents but will be able to consider their total impact
- police will be able to consider long-running campaigns designed to cause repeat disruption over a period of days or weeks
The Mansfield MP is delighted that Government has listened to the calls from police officers for more clarity to crack down on these guerrilla tactics.
Commenting on this Ben Bradley MP said:
“Having the right to protest is a fundamental principle of our democracy, but it isn’t right if protests conducted by a small minority end up negatively impacting the lives of the public who are trying to go about their daily lives. We need to strike a healthy balance as there is a big difference between a protest and criminal activism.
“I welcome Government’s decision to give our officers more clarity over when they should step in, and I am sure this will be welcomed by my constituents across Mansfield and Warsop.”
