Member

I thought the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, put it well when he was analysing the difficulty of using a subject condition. He talked about it in terms of narrowness of the subject being discussed from week to week. I thought there could be a breadth of conditionality imposed so a vigil to raise awareness about the plight of hostages still being held in Gaza at the time could be caught up in a subject condition that was meant to apply to protests about Gaza. There is an issue with this, and we have to be aware of unintended consequences in the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Davies. I believe this could negatively impact individuals’ right to peaceful protests, which is a vital democratic value in this country. While it is the Government’s responsibility to ensure that the life of the community is protected from serious disruption, it must always be balanced against the right to peaceful protest.