Dear John
The government’s controversial new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill [1] could severely damage your ability to protect your local community and the planet.
It contains numerous threats to your right to peaceful protest and could harm access to the countryside. And because the government is rushing its mammoth 307-page bill through parliament, it’s giving us, you and the rest of civil society almost no time to properly grasp all of its implications or make our views known to MPs.
Public and political scrutiny around the bill has increased following this weekend’s hugely concerning events. And we need to act now.
Along with Liberty, the Trades Union Congress, Amnesty International UK, RSPB, the Quakers and the End Violence Against Women Coalition, we’ve signed an open letter calling for the government to fundamentally rethink the bill [2]. Will you add your name too?
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This bill represents an attack on some of the most fundamental rights of citizens. Citizens like the communities who successfully helped stop the climate-wrecking fracking industry from taking hold in our countryside.
The consequences of this huge bill will be vast – from peaceful protesters facing greater criminalisation, to nomadic Gypsy and Traveller communities finding their way of life being criminalised.
And like I said, the bill is being rushed through parliament with no chance for proper scrutiny. Normally, MPs and the public have weeks to examine bills before their second reading [3] in parliament. For this bill, we’ve been given just 3 days.
We think that the bill should concern everybody. So please add your name to our open letter today. The more people who speak up, the more chance we have of persuading the government to put the brakes on this incredibly dangerous attack on our freedoms.
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Thanks for reading,
Dave Timms
Head of Political Affairs, Legal and Planning
NOTES:
[1] You can see the bill here.
[2] You can read the open letter here.
[3] The second reading is the first opportunity for MPs to debate the bill.
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