It’s 300
And odd pages - there seems to be some good stuff in there but I can’t find the section about peaceful protesting. I just think it’s a lot of people getting carried away about nothing. If you are law abiding I can’t see how it changes your life. Happy foe you to point me to the section that says otherwise.
Of course there is some 'good stuff' in there but that's how these things work.
There is also a lot of 'bad stuff' in there as well as some glaring omissions so it's not right to say 'well most of it is ok I don't know what you're problem is'.
The Government is being entirely disingenuous because it will say by voting against this bill, Labour are voting against tougher sentences for child murderers and sex offenders, killer drivers and measures that protect the vulnerable.
But Labour are actually drawing attention to the bad parts of the bill and the many unintended consequences of it. It says lots of things about statues and almost nothing about protecting women and girls, and particularly dealing with violence against women and girls.
The bill will impose disproportionate controls on free expression and the right to protest.
It will give the Police more powers to impose conditions on static protests, such as time and noise limits, as well as extending those rules to one-person demonstrations.
The bill gives far too much discretion to the police in determining the balance between protests and disruption and far too much power to the executive to change the law by decree if it chooses.
The bill will make defacing statues and monuments punishable by up to 10 years in jail which theoretically makes it possible for someone to be more harshly punished for this than for rape.
As the The DUP MP Gavin Robinson said:
“The loose and lazy way this legislation is drafted would make a dictator blush. Protests will be noisy, protests will disrupt and no matter how offensive we may find the issue at their heart, the right to protest should be protected.”