Last weekend activists from North Staffs Green Party joined local trades unionists, environmentalists, and anti-racism campaigners to protest against the proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill in Hanley [1].
This was part of a week of protests across the country
which saw people take to the streets of London, Manchester, Cardiff, Liverpool,
and other cities.
Speaking to the Guardian one protester at the event
held in Parliament Square, Terry Matthews said: “I think we’re facing a
really vitriolic attack on our rights to protest and our freedoms to show our
dissatisfaction with the status of the government and the country. And it’s a
really dangerous step to try to take [2]”.
Also
speaking to the Guardian on Friday Green Party peer Jenny Jones described the
measures against peaceful protest contained in the bill as: “Belarus style
laws” and said we have now reached “crunch time for opposition to this
increasingly authoritarian government” [3].
In an
article written for Medium Baroness Jones welcomes the support Labour members
of the Lords have give to opposing the bill and eighteen pages of amendments
introduced without proper scrutiny but expresses regret this only extends to
those covering the right to protest [4].
Speaking
at the Protest event in Hanley a representative of North Staffs Green Party
described the bill as an “assault on the greatest of freedoms; the right to
protest” and warned that if passed it would be used to curtail the activities
of protesters who spoke our on issues including the environment, workers rights
and the way women are treated by some members of the police.
Groups
taking part in the protest expressed their determination to continue opposing
the bill and against the policies of the Johnson government.
Speaking
to the Sentinel Kevin Deegan, leader of the North Staffs branch of Disabled
People Against Cuts said: "If they think it will stop disabled people campaigning,
they need to think again. I'm fighting for my life and the lives of other
people”.
Also
speaking to the Sentinel Ollie Johnson of the Stoke Kill The Bill Alliance said
Boris Johnson had “succeeded in making an entire country hate him while he's
been presiding over the worst government we've ever had”, adding "We've
had enough of his lies today. We need MP's and workplace unions to step up
together and get Boris Johnson out."
The
Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is not the only piece of dangerous
and illiberal legislation currently passing through parliament. This could see
voters who cannot produce ID documents being turned away from polling stations,
it also contains provisions to give ministers a level of control over the
Electoral Commission that could threaten its independence.
In a
report by the cross-party Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs
committee chair, Conservative MP William Wragg wrote that the provisions
contained in the bill “lack a sufficient evidence base, timely consultation,
and transparency, all of which should be addressed before it makes any further
progress” [5].
Jon
Norcross of the Electoral Reform Society has warned that as with the PCSC Bill
the government are attempting to ‘sneak’ further damaging provisions in as
amendments. These include using the flawed ‘first past the post’ system to
elect Police and Crime Commissioners.
In an
article published on the Electoral Reform Society website he writes that there
has been ‘little in the way of meaningful consultation on many of the most dangerous
provisions in this bill, last-minute amendments also mean key bits of this
legislation have yet to receive any proper scrutiny within parliament. This is
no way to make effective legislation’.
Going
on to say: ‘It’s clear now that the government’s Elections Bill proposals are
less about improving our democracy than they are an attack on voters’ ability
to cast their ballot and have their voice count’ [6].
The
Electoral Reform Society have launched a petition calling for the government to
rethink the Elections Bill accessible at
A
spokesperson for North Staffs Green Party said: ‘The PCSC Bill and the
Elections Bill represent a pincer movement against our civil liberties by a
government that is becoming increasingly and worryingly authoritarian’, adding
that ‘we will be working closely with Kill the Bill and other campaign groups
to defend the freedoms that are vital to a democratic society’.
[1]https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/kill-bill-protest-staged-outside-6497985
[2]https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jan/15/protesters-rally-across-uk-against-police-and-bill
[4]https://green-party.medium.com/fighting-our-government-to-protect-our-right-to-protest-f845f54a7aaf
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