Dear John,

Rishi Sunak’s adviser on ‘anti-extremism,’ Lord Walney, published his long-awaited report today on ‘Protecting Our Democracy from Coercion ([link removed]) .’

The nearly 300-page review, despite its title, does not concern dark money, disinformation, the illegal prorogation of Parliament, nor the UK’s biased monopoly media.

Instead, it calls for yet another crackdown on peaceful protestors and pressure groups.

Walney urges Sunak to:
* Expand the legal basis for police to not permit a march or protest to go ahead, beyond the previous grounds of “risking serious public disorder” (which was already quite broad);
* Require groups that peacefully protest on a routine basis to “contribute to the policing costs” associated – making campaigners pay for their own protests;
* Ban all groups engaged in (ill-defined) “serious disruption” in order to “influence government or public debate”;
* Create exclusion zones around not just Parliament, but also arms manufacturers and oil companies;
* Allow companies to sue protestors for loss of revenue from disruption (Walney himself notably has personal financial links to both arms and oil industries); and,
* Give police broad new information gathering powers, allowing them to spy on emails and listen in on phone calls.

All this on top of the Policing Act (2022) ([link removed]) and Public Order Act (2023) ([link removed]) , which civil liberties and human rights experts say stray well into authoritarian territory.

If the government implements these recommendations, it’s not inconceivable that democracy groups like Open Britain might find ourselves on the receiving end of these new powers. In fact, anyone taking a robust stand against the government risks being spied on or financially shut down under these draconian proposals.

Ironically, as Walney was releasing his report, the High Court found ([link removed]) that the Public Order Act - the government’s last piece of anti-protest legislation - had put peaceful protestors at risk of unlawful and unfair prosecution. We congratulate our friends at Liberty for taking this case to court and winning a massive victory for democracy.

These are extreme powers the government is seeking to take here, typically reserved for extreme threats such as terrorism. Applying extreme powers to situations as benign as peaceful protest - however much inconvenience it may create - would be a serious undermining of democratic freedoms.

Moreover, as we now know from recent scandals such as the infected blood scandal, the Post Office/Fujitsu debacle, Grenfell Tower, and Windrush, government cannot always be trusted to wield power responsibly. So it is imperative these proposals are challenged…and we will definitely play our part in that.

All the best,

Mark Kieran

CEO, Open Britain

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