Peers accuse Government of changing protest laws by stealth

Parliamentary due process not followed after changes that led to Coronation arrests, Lords speaker says

A PARLIAMENTARY row has broken out after the Home Office quietly lowered the threshold for taking action against protesters who cause “serious disruption” despite opposition from the House of Lords.

The proposed change was initially voted down by peers when it was presented in the form of a full piece of primary legislation, the usual approach for enacting major changes to the law.

However, it emerged yesterday that the same policy was then brought about via secondary legislation, which is a form of legal change with much less scrutiny from Parliament.

It is the first time such a move has ever been taken, according to the secondary legislation scrutiny committee, a group of peers that oversees the use of the mechanism.

Critics argue the approach undercuts due process in Parliament, since if the House of Lords has explicitly rejected a legal change then it has made its will clear. However, peers do have an opportunity to oppose secondary legislation, meaning they would have had the chance to object.

The development is especially noteworthy given it emerged just days after the Metropolitan Police faced criticism for its arrest of protesters during the Coronation.

A group of republican campaigners were arrested ahead of the Coronation after it was found they had luggage straps, prompting a debate about the threshold for new police powers to counter protesters.

Lord Mcfall of Alcluith, who as Lords Speaker oversees the work of Parliament’s second chamber, tweeted a link to the report and appeared to raise the alarm.

Lord Mcfall wrote: “Secondary legislation doesn’t often grab the headlines, but it matters.

“The House of Lords scrutinises every scrap of it to flag concerns. Here, eagle-eyed peers highlight the use of regulations to bring in measures previously rejected by Lords in a vote.”

Sir Chris Bryant, the Labour chairman of the commons committee on standards, said: “The Government is introducing measures by secondary legislation that were rejected when the primary legislation was going through. This makes parliamentary procedure a farce.”

The change to the law was intended to assist police in countering against disruptive protests, such as those carried out by environmental groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil.

The new regulation lowered the threshold for “serious” disruption and made other changes, for example referring to the cumulative impact of repeated protests.

The change had been proposed in an amendment to the Public Order Bill, which is now law, but had been rejected by the Lords.