NO TO THE POLICE BILL

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2021 :: RMTnews 14 RMT is warning that the government’s new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is an attack on the right to protest, disproportionately targeting already marginalised groups and why this is an issue for trade unionists. WHAT IS THE BILL? The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is a very lengthy piece of legislation, at some 300 pages long and covers a wide range of issues. While some of the measures covered in the Bill are uncontentious, there are also some significantly damaging measures contained within it including ones which will lead to a severe curtailment of the right to protest. The human rights organisation Liberty describes the Bill as ‘one of the most serious threats to human rights and civil liberties in recent history’. It is clear that the government has attempted to rush the Bill through Parliament with as little scrutiny as possible. The Bill was published just before it was debated in the House of Commons and it was only allocated two days of debate. WHAT DOES THE BILL PROPOSE? The Institute of Employment Rights (IER) explains that Part Three of the Bill ‘effectively criminalises protests that cause disruption – defined in broad and vague terms – even in the case of one-person protests’. The Bill also effectively criminalises noise during protests and allows the Police to intervene in response to the ‘noise generated by persons taking part’. Shockingly, it would allow the Police to impose penalties on people breaching these conditions if they ‘ought to have known’ they were in place and it would no longer be necessary to prove that someone knew of the conditions. The Bill removes the distinction between marches and static protests and allows the Police to impose any conditions on static protests that ‘appear necessary’. Liberty states that these changes may ‘embolden the police to impose increasingly expansive restrictions’ and could ‘amount to an effective ban’ on protests. The Bill also seeks to widen the area around Parliament where protests cannot take place. STOP AND SEARCH The Bill proposes new stop and search powers for the police, which Liberty says would ‘hand the police a highly oppressive tool’. Existing stop and search powers are already highly problematic and the new proposals risk exacerbating discrimination and the disproportionate targeting of black and ethnic minority communities. Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities Part Four of the Bill contains measures which are an attack on the way of life for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities. The Bill specifies a new trespass offence which could lead to the criminalisation of people these communities and the seizure of cars and caravans, which amounts to the seizure of their homes and possessions. HOMELESS PEOPLE A number of homeless charities and organisations have warned that the trespassing measures in the Bill also put homeless people, who may have had to resort to sleeping in cars, vans or other vehicles, at risk of arrest and imprisonment and making it harder for them to escape homelessness. WHY IS IT AN ISSUE FOR TRADE UNIONISTS? Clearly the government’s extreme and blatant attack on the right to protest is a serious issue for all trade unionists, who have long used public protest as a means of defending workers’ rights. By their very nature protests will be loud and inconvenient for some, but the government’s attempts to criminalise this behaviour make clear their authoritarian goal to stifle dissent. It is no coincidence that the Bill was introduced in the wake of Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion protests. As the IER points out, the Home Secretary, Priti Patel has made clear her disdain for these movements, calling the protestors ‘dreadful’, ‘thugs’, ‘hooligans’ and ‘criminals’. Measures in the Bill will also disproportionately affect already marginalised groups within society, and trade unionists can help defend these communities by mobilising against the Bill. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Despite a wide number of amendments being tabled in the House of Commons, the Bill was passed by the Commons unamended at its third reading in July with a majority of 100 and support from the Conservative party and DUP. The Bill has now passed to the House of Lords and is due to be considered again on September 14, 2021. A vast array of groups from across the labour and civil society movement have opposed the Bill. RMT has signed a statement against the Bill promoted by John McDonnell MP and the group Sisters Uncut and will continue to work with the labour movement and other groups to oppose the Bill and defend our right to protest! More information is available at: IER ‘What’s wrong with the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill’ and ‘Policing Bill “oppressive and wrong” says Human Rights Committee’ www.ier.org.uk NO TO THE POLICE BILL The government’s new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is an attack on the right to protest