The government has suffered a series of defeats in the House of Lords over its plans to clamp down on disruptive and noisy protesters. Opposition peers voted against a range of measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, with Labour calling some of the plans 'outrageous'. Peers also voted to make misogyny a hate crime in England and Wales.
No 10 said it was disappointed peers voted against measures to combat the 'guerilla tactics' of some protesters. The bill now faces going back and forth between the Commons and Lords. The government is likely to continue fighting for its proposals.
The most controversial part of the bill is on planned changes to protests, which the government proposed in response to environmental activists who have blocked roads, glued themselves to trains and stopped printing presses. Ministers were defeated over plans to give police new powers to stop protests deemed too noisy or disruptive. The Lords also backed an amendment to strip out the power to impose conditions on protests on noise grounds.
The government lost 14 votes in the Lords on the detail of the bill on Monday night, adding to five previous defeats. Most of these are reversible in the Commons, but the Lords blocked new public order offences aimed at preventing a recurrence of Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion protests. The government's proposals may resurface as a free-standing public order bill when the new parliamentary year begins in April.
Other amendments on misogyny, noise at demonstrations, drink-spiking, the police duty of candour, and the repeal of the Vagrancy Act will have to be agreed by MPs. This 'parliamentary ping pong' must be completed before the end of the current session, expected in late March or April.
