Member

Amendment 375 does exactly that. It amends the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to reinstate the three-month no-return period that operated successfully for many years. It also does the same for the new offence in Section 60C, added by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This strikes a more proportionate balance by maintaining an important enforcement tool for police, while ensuring that individuals are not penalised in circumstances where alternative sites are in scarce supply, and maintaining a three-month maximum stay. Let me be clear that this change does not weaken police powers to respond to unauthorised encampments that cause damage, disruption or distress. The full suite of powers introduced by the 2022 Act remains in place. This amendment simply ensures that those powers operate proportionately and in a manner compliant with human rights obligations.