Debate in the House of Lords on the Public Demonstrations (Repeals) Bill

Baroness Ludford: My Lords, as a former LSE student, I, too, congratulate my noble friend Lady Miller on the Bill. The right to peaceful protest goes to the heart of the British tradition of liberty established over past centuries, but it has had to be fought for.

The Law Lords' judgment in the case of Laporte last November found that anti-Iraq war protesters had been unlawfully turned away from reaching a protest at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire in March 2003. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Bingham, recalled that:

"The approach of the English common law to freedom of expression and assembly was hesitant and negative, permitting that which was not prohibited".

He quotes Dicey as saying:

"At no time has there in England been any proclamation of the right to liberty of thought or to freedom of speech",

and that,

"it can hardly be said that our constitution knows of such a thing as any specific right of public meeting".

Therefore, he continued:

"The Human Rights Act 1998, giving domestic effect to articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention, represented ... a constitutional shift".

He notes that the Strasbourg court has recognised that,

"the right to freedom of assembly is a fundamental right in a democratic society and, like the right to freedom of expression, is one of the foundations of such a society".

After the conviction of Maya Evans, the then Leader of the other place, Geoff Hoon MP, claimed

that the legislation was widely supported by MPs and had worked "remarkably well". One press report said that his remarks were met by cries of "disgraceful". Maya Evans lost her appeal in the High Court, as it was said that the requirement of authorisation in itself did not breach the European Convention on Human Rights. I understand that there is a possibility that this case will go to Strasbourg. However, if the case had reached the House of Lords-in fact, leave was refused-I wonder whether the noble and learned Lord, Lord Bingham, would have agreed with the reasonableness of her conviction against the test of the Human Rights Act.

Mr Brian Haw is the awkward squad, and long may he continue being so. Like most Liberal Democrats, what brought me into this party was our constitution's assertion that,

"none shall be enslaved by ... conformity".

I should like that as my epitaph. I have joined Mr Haw in Parliament Square, along with campaigning comedian Mark Thomas, whose activism I salute, on a "mass lone protest". We decided not to get arrested; instead, each individual among the couple of hundred of us taking part sought their own personal authorisation from Charing Cross police station. I have mine here-I should have it framed-from poor, overworked Superintendent Hanson Coles, who I am sure has better things to do catching criminals.

One thing that intrigues me-so far as I understand it; no doubt I shall be corrected by noble Lords if I am wrong-is that Section 11 of the Public Order Act 1986 allows for the waiver of the requirement for notice to be given of a procession where,

"it is not reasonably practicable",

or,

"where the procession is one commonly or customarily held in the ... area".

That sounds like an interesting loophole. Mr Haw or Maya Evans-or, indeed, I or Mark Thomas-just need to march round and round and then we would be a procession, not a demonstration. The only saving grace of all these bans and restrictions is the humour that they supply.

Conservative Party activist, Julia Gobert, was threatened with arrest outside Earl's Court tube station last April when handing out local elections leaflets. It is said that a Labour member-I confess that this has not been verified-complained to the station manager. This was because she was wearing a jacket emblazoned with the words-I have to report this factually, otherwise the point is lost, and I therefore apologise for the expression-"Bollocks to Blair". She was told that she was in contravention of an apparent ban under the Public Order Act 1986 on "words causing offence". It really has come to a pretty pass when language which most of us would think rude, even risqué but hardly criminal, could land you in court. What on Earth is going on in this country?

Then-I hope that I am not straying too much from the topic of the Bill-we have the absurd abuse

of stop-and-search powers under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, the latter not even requiring reasonable suspicion for stop and search. This was the provision deployed quite illegally to bar 82 year-old Walter Wolfgang from the Labour Party conference after he had had the temerity to heckle Jack Straw. I am surprised that they have not made that a capital offence. Section 44 was also used against 80 year-old peace campaigner and RAF Second World War veteran, John Catt, for wearing a T-shirt with anti-Bush and anti-Blair slogans near the Labour Party conference in September 2005. The form that he had to sign said that the purpose of the stop and search was "terrorism" and the grounds for intervention were, "carrying plackard"-spelt with a "k",

"and T-shirt with anti-Blair info".

Section 44 has been used to criminalise potentially a whole city. For the past few years, the whole of London-my constituency in my role as MEP for London-has been designated a stop-and-search zone on a continuous rolling basis. As that was authorised by the Home Secretary, the Government are squarely responsible. People who wanted to protest at the London Arms Fair in Docklands were turned back by police. I stress that the police had to give no reasons for suspicion of intended violence, as the Act exempts such a requirement. No wonder that in 2004-05, 36,000 people were stopped and searched. It is far too easy.

As a Member of the European Parliament, I am familiar with Euro-phobes castigating the European Union-as it happens, wrongly-for seeking to suppress traditional British liberties. Brussels is not the culprit here. I am afraid it is Blair. The Prime Minister's own sister-in-law, Lauren Booth, said, when five anti-war protesters were arrested in August 2005, as the SOCPA ban came into force:

"This is all about silencing critics of the war in Iraq and ID cards and denying people the right to free speech".

If one heard on television that someone in another country was banned from gathering near a government building to stage a legitimate protest, one would probably think, "Thank goodness that does not happen in this country".

At a time when the European Union is expanding to include countries that have had a long and difficult struggle to establish democracy, the rule of law and fair justice, leadership from member states such as Britain to entrench freedom and liberty as defining EU values and practices is urgently needed. The example that we set to the rest of the world is also vital. How ironic that the Prime Minister, who is so vocal regarding the respect agenda-he wants to set up 40 respect zones around the country-has so little respect for his fellow citizens' rights to enjoy freedom of expression and peaceful assembly that he imposes a protest-free exclusion zone around Parliament and Downing Street. That will be one part of his legacy for which he deserves no respect at all. It is time to say: "This is our country, these are our public spaces and no arrogant and authoritarian Government should take away our basic freedoms".

Baroness Tonge: My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lady Miller on introducing this Bill. I also endorse the remarks made about her by the noble Lord, Lord Judd. In September 2003, I was one of the Members of Parliament called to give evidence to the Select Committee on Procedure in the other place. The chairman was Sir Nicholas Winterton and the three witnesses were Mr Nicholas Soames, Mr Jeremy Corbyn and myself. With that cast, it somewhat resembled an undiscovered opera by Gilbert and Sullivan. The main topics of that session were, first, whether a pavement protest obstructed the general public and therefore caused a danger-regardless of the fact that no one uses that pavement, one cannot get on to it very easily, and one almost has to commit suicide to reach it-and, secondly, whether the demonstration was noisy, unaesthetic and scruffy. That point was made very strongly by Mr Soames who, not long before, had camped out with dogs in Parliament Square when the Countryside Alliance came to town and made one hell of a racket with hunting horns, but the banners were professionally made and aesthetic. Incidentally, the noise could have been dealt with easily by the environmental health officers of the City of Westminster. I do not understand why they did not do that.

The real reason for the clauses in this Bill, dubbed by some people as the "Seriously Scruffy Police Bill", is that the Government were and are seriously discomforted and embarrassed on a daily basis as they go in and out of Parliament. They are discomforted by that brave and patient man, Brian Haw, who happens to think-as many people in this country think-that our Government's foreign policy is wrong and has caused untold damage and suffering to people in the Middle East. I say to noble Lords and especially to the noble Lord, Lord Judd, that war is unaesthetic, scruffy, untidy, dirty, noisy and dangerous, but we must be allowed to protest against it.

Our Government have broken international law by going to war with Iraq. Despite the Government's legislation prohibiting such action, we are still selling arms to countries that will use them for internal repression or external aggression. The Government have stopped an investigation into allegations that a British company has bribed the Government of Saudi Arabia. On a domestic note, we had the unedifying spectacle of a convicted paedophile on our TV screens last night telling us not to blame the judge for not sending him to prison, but the Government. Yet we can go to court, and perhaps be sent to prison for making a peaceful protest within a one-mile radius of Parliament Square without police permission. What a mad, mad country we inhabit.

I conclude-because I know noble Lords want me to be brief-by reflecting on something my noble friend Lady Scott said to me this morning. She asked, "What are these Britishness classes we shall subject our children to?". What on earth is Britishness if we cannot have the freedom to speak out and protest peacefully in public?