MPs back crackdown on slow-walk protests amid warnings over ‘fascism’
MPs have approved new powers for police to crack down on slow-walking protests amid warnings the government is veering toward “fascism”.
The House of Commons voted in favour of measures to lower the threshold for what is considered “serious disruption” by 277 to 217, a majority of 60.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the changes “provide the police with the powers to impose conditions on harmful protests” and “provide further clarity” on when they can act to shut down demonstrations.
But Labour MP Richard Burgon branded the move an “authoritarian clampdown” while SNP cabinet member Alison Thewliss said the government is “slow walking” the Commons towards “fascism”.
The action comes against the backdrop of protests by environmental groups like Just Stop Oil (JSO), Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion.
The government says their tactics, such as blocking roads, slow marching and gluing themselves to objects, are costing the taxpayer millions and diverting police attention from serious crime.
Ms Braverman told MPs: “Over the last six weeks alone, Just Stop Oil (JSO) carried out 156 slow marches around London.
“This has required over 13,770 police officer shifts, that’s over 13,000 police shifts that could have been stopping robbery, violent crime or anti-social behaviour, and the cost to the taxpayer is an outrage – £4.5 million in just six weeks on top of the £14 million spent last year.”
She added that “In some cases, the protests have aggravated the public so much that they’ve taken matters into their own hands”.
“They’ve lost their patience, the police must be able to stop this happening and it’s our job in government to give them the powers to do so.”
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Just Stop Oil activists block road in London
Police already have the power to clamp down on protests that are likely to cause “serious disruption to the life of the community”.
The controversial Public Order Act, passed just before the King’s coronation in May, introduced new offences for “locking on” or being equipped to do so, as well as for tunnelling and obstructing transport works.
The changes the government want to introduce would lower the threshold of what counts as serious disruption from “significant” and “prolonged” to “more than minor”.
The new regulations would also cover the cumulative impact of repeated protests while the definition of “community” would be broadened to any citizens who might be affected, rather than only those who live or work in the vicinity.
The proposals came in for heavy criticism from the main opposition parties.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said there are already laws to deal with slow walk road protests.
She said: “This is not about the seriously disruptive Just Stop Oil protests which are rightly already against the law.
“Instead, what it is doing is giving the police the power to prevent any and every campaign group protesting outside a local library or swimming pool that is about to be closed because it may be a little more than minor.
“This makes it harder for law-abiding, peaceful campaigners who want to work with the police to organise a limited protest – something we should all want people to do.”
For the SNP, Alison Thewliss said: “It seems to me that the only slow walking that we should be concerned about in this place is the slow walking that this Government is taking this House in towards a state of lack of democracy and of fascism.”
And Green Party MP Caroline Lucas described the regulations as “oppressive, anti-democratic and downright wrong”.
But DUP MP Sammy Wilson said it was “exaggerated” to describe the changes as fascism.
He said: “This is not fascism. This is about the Government having to make a decision as to what do we do to allow in a democracy people to make their point – maybe you don’t like the point they’re making – and on the other hand stop those who are impacted by it being impacted, where the protesters have made it quite clear that’s what their main aim is anyway.”
The House of Lords will vote on the changes on Tuesday.
Peers previously voted down the measures after the government attempted to add them to the Public Order Bill in February.
They have been brought back to parliament as regulations – something by convention the House of Lords does not usually vote against.
The move has been criticised by the upper chamber.
Labour peer Lord Coaker said the government has not addressed concerns raised about the proposals, while the Green Party’s Barones Jones has put down a “fatal motion” to block the changes.
A workman saved a seven-year-old boy from a burning car in the aftermath of a deadly crash caused by a suicidal ex-pilot, an inquest has heard.
The schoolboy’s rescue came following the collision on the M6, which killed former RAF man Richard Woods and four others, in October last year.
Last week a coroner ruled that Woods, 40, took his own life by deliberately driving his Skoda the wrong way down the motorway while drunk and hitting a Toyota Yaris head-on.
The driver of the Toyota, Jaroslaw Rossa, 42, was also killed, along with his two sons, Filip, 15, and Dominic, seven, and his partner Jade McEnroe, 33.
Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard on Thursday that Ms McEnroe’s son was also in the car but survived after workman Gavin Walsh came to his rescue at the scene, which was near Tebay services in Cumbria.
In a statement to the inquest, Mr Walsh said he was a passenger in a transit van travelling to Scotland when he witnessed the crash.
He jumped out of the vehicle and used a jack to smash the rear windscreen of the Toyota and pulled the boy out of the burning vehicle.
Mr Walsh said: “We really did try, I can assure everyone we did our best. We only had minimal time.
“I saved a life that day and I hope never to witness anything like that again.”
He added that he has never stopped thinking about the boy, and said: “I hope we will meet again one day and I will give you a massive hug.”
At the time, the family were returning to Glasgow from a trip to Legoland in Windsor, Berkshire.
The inquest heard that Wood, who was travelling at a speed of at least 65mph, would have been charged with manslaughter had he survived.
Recording conclusions of unlawful killing, Cumbria assistant coroner Margaret Taylor said: “I found that Jaroslaw, Jade, Filip and Dominic died as a consequence of the unlawful acts of another driver.”
The inquest heard how Mr Woods, from Cambridgeshire, had served a distinguished 14-year career in the RAF and was a flight instructor for BAE Systems at the time of his death.
Jade McEnroe. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Dominic and Filip. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
In Ms Taylor’s record of inquest, Mr Woods was said to have been experiencing “a number of stressors in his life” and had a “history of harmful use of alcohol”.
Following the crash, he was found to be nearly four times over the legal drink-drive limit and a two-thirds empty bottle of gin was found in his car.
On the day of his death, concerns had been raised over his behaviour at a work conference near Preston in Lancashire.
Mr Woods failed to return to his seat after lunch and was later spotted driving erratically and swerving across three northbound carriageway lanes on the M6.
After pulling onto the hard shoulder, he then proceeded to U-turn and drove southward on lane three.
Filip, Dominic and Jaroslaw Rossa. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Detective Sergeant Deborah Story, from Cumbria Police, told the inquest that Mr Woods would have been prosecuted on four counts of manslaughter had he lived.
She said hypothetical charges of murder were considered by detectives but not thought appropriate because of a lack of information that Mr Woods knew the family or anything that provided a link between them.
Ms McEnroe’s parents, Marie McEnroe and George McNellis, told the coroner they thought it was “murder”.
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A statement from the mother of Filip and Dominic, and the ex-wife of Mr Rossa, Kamila, was read out at the inquest.
She said Mr Rossa, known as Jarek, was born in Poland where they became a couple and went on to have three boys.
He loved playing computer games and had “lots of friends”, she said, and worked at the Wagamama restaurant in Silverburn, Glasgow.
She said she was “devastated” over the deaths, adding: “Our lives will never be the same.
“I am heartbroken at the passing of my beloved angels Filip and Dominic.”
Marie McEnroe said her daughter, a spa therapist, had been in a relationship with Mr Rossa for about two-and-a-half years.
She said Jade had been a “brilliant mother” to her only child, was “really happy” with Mr Rossa and it was “lovely chaos” when all the boys were playing together.
Ms McEnroe added: “Life changed forever that day”.
Ms Taylor praised the “selfless acts of bravery” from those in the aftermath of the collision, including Mr Walsh, who she said went towards the burning car “without hesitation for his own safety”.
The coroner added: “Without his swift response, Jade’s child would also have perished.”
Addressing the bereaved family members, she said: “Your loss is unimaginable but you have conducted yourself with dignity and I thank you for that. I wish you strength for the future.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
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