VICTORY!
The Reform Clause 1 campaign succeeded in its aim to amend Clause 1. The change is now incorporated in Section 1 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 and came into force in October 2014.
VICTORY IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS
January 9, 2014Last night the House of Lords voted overwhelmingly in favour of Lord Dear’s amendment to reform Clause 1 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill.
Peers, including a number of Tory and Lib Dem rebels, voted 306 to 178 – a majority of 128 – following a lively two hour debate. See which Peers voted to reform Clause 1 here.
The Government’s proposed injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance (IPNAs) faced fierce criticism from peers on all sides of the chamber.
Lord Dear, a crossbencher and former chief constable of West Midlands Police, told the chamber: “We live on a crowded island and we must surely exercise a degree of tolerance and forbearance.”
Lord Phillips of Sudbury, a Lib Dem peer said the ‘anti annoyance’ orders would place a huge burden on police and local authorities.
Lady Mallalieu, a leading QC and Labour peer, said, “my main concern is the extent to which lowering the threshold to behaviour, ‘capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to any person’, has the potential to undermine our fundamental freedoms, and in particular the way in which the proposed law might be used to curb protest and freedom of expression.”
Lord Cormack, a Conservative peer, said: “It is crucial that this House, one of the bastions of freedom and civil liberties through the ages, should not weaken the right of our fellow citizens to be able to speak and to annoy.”
Former Attorney General Lord Morris of Aberavon criticised the Home Office for bringing forward “ill thought-out” proposals with “little regard for the consequences”.
The Bill will move to the House of Commons where MPs will vote on whether to accept the amendment. Write to your MP now by following this link and clicking ‘Get Involved’.