Member

My new clause 49 and new clause 50, tabled by the hon. Member for Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel), are intended to preserve our right to protest. My new clause would remove the definition of “serious disruption” from the Public Order Act 2023. That new concept was extremely broad and led to arbitrary application and confusion, with police imposing criminal sanctions and other anti-protest measures on actions that simply did not qualify. Liberty recently won a judicial review case in the Court of Appeal related to the Public Order Act 1986 (Serious Disruption to the Life of the Community) Regulations 2023. The regulations sought to define the phrase “serious disruption”, but the court sided with Liberty. However, because the same wording as that which was challenged was used in section 34 of the Public Order Act, the definition remains in force.