Latest editorial
Police officers detain activists from Just Stop Oil during their protest outside Harrods department store in Knightbridge, London, October 20, 2022
THE Tories’ anti-protest Bill has suffered eight defeats in the House of Lords, setting back government plans to outlaw tactics used by climate activists.
The votes mean that some of the most controversial elements of the Public Order Bill have been thrown out for good, including a measure that sought to give police powers to preemptively shut down protests where officers believe disruption might occur.
However other powers could be reinserted into the Bill when it returns to the Commons in the coming weeks.
Evidence to peers from medical leaders, patient safety officials and the children’s commissioner has intensified fears that the Bill’s safeguards are inadequate, writes ADAM JAMES POLLOCK
It is only trade union power at work that will materially improve the lot of working people as a class but without sector-wide collective bargaining and a right to take sympathetic strike action, we are hamstrung in the fight to tilt back the balance of power, argues ADRIAN WEIR