Member

We are all familiar with crowds and demonstrations in the vicinity of this building, whether on foot, in tractors or otherwise. Noisy and inconvenient they may be, and they may hinder many of us frequently in our daily business, but there is no justification for a public authority to be placed under a duty to ensure no hindrance whatever. I invite noble Lords to consider the farmers’ protests, entirely irrespective of what they thought of the proposed inheritance tax on farmland, which my party opposed. Yes, the farmers made a lot of noise in London. They probably clogged up roads in the country too. Yes, they were noisy. But they had a point and they won it. I suggest their protests were entirely legitimate and it would have been completely disproportionate to restrict their right to protest. Proportionality and purpose are the key.