Ministers’ plans to crack down on protests will worsen racial inequalities in Britain, a cross-parliamentary group has warned the Home Secretary.
Members of the All Parliamentary Party Group (APPG) on Race and Community have written to Suella Braverman expressing their “deep concern” about the government’s Public Order Bill.
Labour MP Clive Lewis, chair of the APPG, warned that the bill risks “entrenching racial injustice, and making it more dangerous” for people of colour to speak out about the causes that matter most to them.
In the letter, the APPG says any expansion to stop-and-search powers will "drag more people from Black and marginalised communities into the criminal justice system for exercising their fundamental rights”.
“Protest is a cornerstone of democracy. It has always been a vital way of making our voices heard, from the civil rights movement to Black Lives Matter. But this bill’s harmful measures will entrench racial injustice, and make it more dangerous for people of colour to take to the streets for causes they believe in,” Clive Lewis MP told The Independent.
“This year alone, it has become increasingly clear time and again that the police can’t be trusted with the powers that they already have, but the government continues to push through plans to hand them even more – when even the police themselves have said these additional powers are unnecessary.
“Expanding stop and search, introducing protest banning orders, will make it much harder for us to protest, and put people of colour in harm’s way. I urge my fellow parliamentarians to protect our fundamental rights by voting down this bill in its entirety.”
It is feared that the bill’s expansion of stop-and-search powers will disproportionately impact people from racialised communities and worsen barriers that already deter people from protesting for fear of being subject to harassment, intimidation, and arrest.
Black people are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people under suspicion-based powers, and 14 times more likely under suspicionless powers, according to the government’s own statistics.
The APPG also warned about the impact of introducing ‘protest banning orders’, which could see people who have never been convicted of a crime banned from protesting, and subject to 24/7 GPS monitoring,
The group said this would severely infringe on civil liberties, and will particularly impact racial and climate justice activists by widening the criminal dragnet and putting protesters under round-the-clock surveillance.
The letter follows warnings from former police officers, who have said that measures in the bill risk exacerbating mistrust by expanding stop and search and police discretion to limit protests.
Public mistrust in the police is already low, particularly in marginalised communities – only 36 per cent of Black children and teenagers trust the police compared with 75 per cent of young people.
Human Rights charity Liberty has said that the expansion of stop and search, the introduction of protest banning orders, and a raft of new criminal offences could criminalise anyone who takes to the streets for causes they believe in.
Martha Spurrier, director at Liberty, said: “We should all be able to stand up for what we believe in and make our voices heard. But the Public Order Bill completely undermines the purpose of protest, and will make it much harder for all of us – especially those from marginalised communities – to exercise our basic rights.
“Criminalising protesters and giving the police even more powers to enforce protests will chip away at our ability to hold the powerful to account. If this government is serious about protecting our rights and keeping communities safe, they must scrap the Public Order Bill. Instead, we need policies that protect our human rights and that have fairness and equality at their heart.”
The Home Secretary has not replied to the APPG’s letter, however, she appeared in a video posted to the Home Office’s Twitter account on Monday sharing her views.
“These selfish protesters take up thousands of hours of police resource,” Ms Braverman said.
A Home Office spokesperson told The Independent: “The Public Order Bill protects the rights of the law-abiding majority to go about their daily lives free from disruption.
“Stop and search powers will improve the police’s ability to act earlier, to prevent guerrilla protest tactics from inflicting misery on the public. Serious Disruption Prevention Orders will target the selfish minority repeatedly causing chaos”.
