Public Order Bill (Lords Amendments)

The Public Order Bill returned to the House of Commons on Tuesday 7th March to consider amendments that had been made by the House of Lords. Yet again, the Government used its majority in the House to prevent Opposition MPs from improving the Bill further.

Darren voted in favour of an amendment to protect the establishment of buffer zones around abortion clinics. Given that this amendment received cross-party support, it will remain part of the legislation.

You can read Darren’s response to his constituents as follows:

Dear Constituent,

Thank you for taking the time to write to me about the Public Order Bill. I hope that this response finds you well.

As you will already know, I have voted against the Public Order Bill at every stage in the House of Commons. This is because I believe that laws already exist to tackle protest that the police use every day without difficulty. Criminal damage is already an offence, as is conspiracy to cause damage, trespass, aggravated trespass, public nuisance, breach of the peace and obstruction of a highway. The Government’s own impact assessment shows that the Bill will not have much effect. It is our job as Members of Parliament (MPs) to come up with laws that solve problems and actually work.

The Opposition has suggested a modest reset of the laws, as suggested by Her Majesty’s inspectorate, with amendments making injunctions easier for local organisations to apply for and with stronger punishment for obstructing the highway. We have tried to work with the Government, where possible, in the national interest but too often this has not been possible with the Public Order Bill.

This week, the Government moved two of its own amendments to limit the scope of Serious Disruption Prevention Orders (SDPOs) following defeats in the House of Lords. This included removing electronic monitoring from the list of requirements that could be issued as part of an SDPO and limiting SDPOs so they could only be renewed once (where previously there was no limit specified). The Government used their majority in the Commons to prevent Opposition MPs from passing their own amendments on SPDOs.

I also voted in favour of an amendment to protect the establishment of buffer zones around abortion clinics. The Government took a neutral position on this particular vote and allowed their MPs a free vote on the matter. As such, the amendment passed and will now return to the Lords for further consideration.

The amendments passed by the Commons will now be considered in the Lords on 14th March 2023. I will continue to monitor any developments further ahead of further votes.

Please do let me know if you require any further support at this time.

Yours sincerely,

Darren

Darren Jones MP
Member of Parliament for Bristol North West