Government defeats bid to remove protest curbs in controversial bill

Attempts to scrap controversial curbs on protests have been rejected by government MPS.

Opposition MPS led efforts to amend the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill but found their proposal was rejected in the voting lobbies of the House of Commons.

As part of efforts to overhaul the justice system, the government has proposed a raft of changes in the bill.

These include plans to give police in England and Wales more powers to impose conditions on non-violent protests judged to be too noisy and thereby causing "intimidation or harassment" or "serious unease, alarm or distress" to the public.

Time and noise limits could be imposed as a result of the measures in the bill and those convicted could face a fine or jail.

The Liberal Democrats tabled amendments in a bid to remove part three of the bill, which imposes conditions on processions and protests.

But the party's amendment one – part of a series of seven to scrap this section – was rejected by 354 votes to 273.

During the debate, shadow Home Office minister Sarah Jones said the bill "went too far" in reforming public order legislation.

She said: "The new measures in the bill target protesters for being too noisy and causing serious unease or serious annoyance."

Ms Jones added: "The point of protest is to capture attention, protests are noisy, sometimes they are annoying, but they are as fundamental to our democracy as our Parliament."