The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill: An Overview

The Conservative Party has launched an attack on our civil liberties, by criminalising all elements of protest. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is a cynical attempt by an authoritarian government to oppress democracy. These new draconian powers will make protests and picketing illegal. Essentially, taking away the single most important and effective tool the trade union movement and working class had to force social and political change, which is our right to assemble.

>Clause 59- Banning of ‘disruptive’ protests, making “serious annoyance” a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

>Clause 60- Gypsy and Traveller vehicles to be seized, 3 months jail or ￡2.5k fine for living as a Traveller. Under the Bill an offence will be committed if ‘significant disruption’ would be ‘likely to be caused’ by a person’s residence on any land-private or common. Effectively criminalising Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) people as offences are related to trespass. 

>Clause 55- Police to control when static demos start and finish, and ￡2,500 fines for using a sound system.

>Clause 46- Up to 10 years in prison for damage to a statue.

>Clause 57- ￡5,000 fines for using megaphones outside Parliament. Protests banned from streets surrounding Parliament.

Expand of stop and search powers by introducing Serious Violence Reduction Orders. These orders will allow the police to stop you whenever you are in the public sphere, without reasonable intelligence. The courts will be able to subject you to these orders even when there is no evidence of you ever having handled a weapon. The Bill will make it an offence to challenge the police on why you have been stopped and searched. A research conducted by the U.K Government ( Operation Blunt 2, March 2016) showed stop and search does not reduce crime and it is disproportionality used against ethnic minorities. 

The Bill will grant immigration officers unprecedented surveillance powers to intrude into the lives of migrants, whilst allowing the police to coerce migrants into leaving the U.K using new diversionary cautions.’ These cautions can be used to manipulate migrants into leaving the U.K before they’ve had a chance to receive specialist immigration advice.

These new powers will also make homeless people further targets for police and state violence. Historical events has proven the state unjustified use of powers against the most marginalised in society. From Chartists, to the miners we have resisted and challenged the violence used to protect the state and protect its capital. Everyone has a right to live in safety, free from state violence in a democratic society. It is crucial we continue to unite to Kill the Bill.

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