LABOUR peers in the House of Lords refused to back a motion to end the UK Government’s “draconian” anti-protest laws.
Baroness Jenny Jones's (of the Greens) fatal motion against the Public Order Bill was heard on Tuesday evening.
This is a rare parliamentary procedure which can effectively kill off the passage of the UK Government’s legislation and marks the strongest opposition which can be taken in the House of Lords.
READ MORE: Social Justice Secretary clashes with Tory MSP over child poverty
In this instance, the motion was against the change which could give police “near total discretion” as to which protests are made subject to restrictions – with anything that causes more than minor inconvenience being deemed potentially illegal.
Jones’s motion was backed by the LibDems, but speaking in the Lords last night Labour peer Lord Vernon Coaker said his party would abstain.
He said: “We will abstain on the fatal motion. We will not block this legislation. So let me be clear to those who keep asking me whether the official Labour position, His Majesty’s opposition’s position, is to block the bill.
“We will not do that. I understand why some people wish that to be otherwise but as His Majesty’s opposition, we will respect convention.
Lord Coaker - "Labour will abstain on the fatal motion.... we will not block the bill... " pic.twitter.com/ZFtZPGDD4z
— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) June 13, 2023
“We will respect tradition. We will respect the right way of doing politics in our country and I don’t believe that it necessarily shows any respect for the way that democracy votes by voting down the opinion of the elected government of the day.
“The way to change that is in my view to, at the next election get rid of this government and put another government in its place.”
Lord David Pannick, a crossbencher in the House of Lords, said: “I express regret that the Labour frontbench is not prepared to see through the implications of their own view that this is a constitutional outrage.
“It is something that we should stand up against and we should vote against.”
READ MORE: SNP MSPs agree to send Nicola Sturgeon flowers after arrest
The bill gives police in England sweeping powers to crack down on peaceful protest and has previously been described as "draconian" by the SNP.
A petition calling on Labour to back the motion in the Lords reached more than 62,000 signatures before they abstained.
Labour have previously faced criticism for their stance on the legislation, particularly after David Lammy said they would not repeal it should they win the next General Election.
The party’s decision was met with fierce criticism from Green MP Caroline Lucas who said it was a “shameful abdication of duty”.
Shameful abdication of duty by so-called official opposition. Coaker says “we won’t block this legislation. We will respect convention, we will respect tradition”. In other words, they’ll be complicit with Govt attacks on democracy. Thankfully Greens offering real opposition https://t.co/HTTeVc3ov8
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) June 13, 2023
Writing on Twitter, she said: “Coaker says ‘we won’t block this legislation. We will respect convention; we will respect tradition’.
“In other words, they’ll be complicit with Govt attacks on democracy. Thankfully Greens offering real opposition.”
When asked about the changes to the bill by the Byline Times, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “We wouldn’t characterise it as that. It’s not appropriate that people are prevented from going about their everyday lives by these sorts of actions.
“Obviously the right to protest is fundamental and protected, but when it crosses into stopping people going about their lives, businesses trading or indeed emergency services going about their work, it’s clearly not appropriate.”
I’M SO VERY SORRY EVERYONE. WE CAME TOGETHER in our tens of thousands to try & stop the Government using an unprecedented abuse of power to restrict the publics right to protest. Over 55,000 of you supported us. Tonight #labour @LabourLordsUK shamelessly ignored the publics… pic.twitter.com/FwsucDrR1V
— Peter Stefanovic (@PeterStefanovi2) June 13, 2023
Lawyer Peter Stefanovic also hit out at Labour for their actions, writing on Twitter that they had “shamelessly ignored the public outcry and backed the Government”.
“I have always supported @UKLabour but its refusal to join @LibDemLords & a small band of brave others across the House in backing tonight’s fatal motion was a disgrace.”
He added that Labour had supported “restricting the right to protest”.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel