The Lib Dems and I have called for the bill which takes away people’s freedom to protest to be stopped in its tracks.

In a letter to Jonathan Lord, I have urged the MP to ‘stop the dangerous and draconian Bill in its tracks’.  I wrote this letter after the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill was passed on its Second Reading in the House of Commons yesterday.

The 300 page bill would see sweeping powers given to the Home Office to restrict the right to protest, giving police new powers to disrupt protests, marches and assemblies, make it easier to criminalise organisers and participants and increase prison sentences for them.

These new Conservative laws to crackdown on protests are dangerous and draconian.  The right to peaceful assembly and protest is a fundamental human right.  It has always been a crucial part of our democratic society.

These new laws are part of the Tory Government’s anti-democratic attempts to silence any opposition to its policies.  Lib Dems in Parliament will fiercely fight them at every step of the way.

Woking’s MP must stop this Bill in its tracks, the attack on our nations protesting laws is an attack on our liberty.  The weekend’s appalling events at the Clapham Vigil show why this Bill is completely wrong and must be stopped.  Priti Patel and Jonathan Lord need to think again.