Ministers fail to act on anti-vaxxer crowds at school gates

THE Government refused last night to implement exclusion zones around schools to stop anti-vaxxers lobbying children.

Pressure has mounted to allow head teachers and councils to ‘rapidly create’ exclusion zones using Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) after the Daily Mail’s investigation into anti-vax protests at schools.

At present PSPOs are unworkable to prevent anti-vaxxers as they take weeks to implement while authorities give time for consultation from all sides.

But a government spokesman said: ‘It is up to local authorities to issue Public Spaces Protection Orders if a protest is persistent, unreasonable or harming the quality of life of those in the local area. There is no minimum time requirement for local authorities to consult on issuing a PSPO.’

Labour believes it can streamline the consultation to hear from just the affected school,

‘It would take less than an hour’

the local council leader and the local chief constable, and says it simply requires the Home Secretary to amend the 2014 Antisocial Behaviour Act, which would ‘take less than an hour’.

Saturday’s Mail exposed former school governor Francesca Dill, 32, who runs anti-vax group Outreach Worldwide, which has picketed more than 100 schools, targeting youngsters at the gates falsely claiming that the jab is ‘deadly’ and could leave girls infertile.

The group uploaded videos promoting its delusional messages on Instagram. The social media giant took down the most damning footage following our story but clips showing the group intimidating headmasters were still up last night.

Outreach Worldwide was also continuing yesterday to organise protests on the encrypted messaging service Telegram.

Thousands of anti-vaxxers marched on London’s Oxford Street on Saturday with placards comparing the government to Nazis and claiming the jab gives you ‘brain damage’.

Yesterday, 40,004 coronavirus cases were reported in the UK and 61 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.