It has been argued that the preparedness of the courts to declare governmental action unlawful is vital to the rule of law. Well, up to a point, Lord Copper. Yesterday’s High Court decision which annulled new police powers to control protests shows that there might be two sides to this, especially when you find yourself on the school run behind a deliberately dawdling crocodile of JSO protesters or in front of a a bunch of XR zealots lying in the road.
The rule of law is all very well, but progressives cannot be allowed to have it all their own way
The background to the episode is boringly legalistic. (Please accept apologies in advance.) The Public Order Act of 1986 allows the police compulsorily to divert a procession or gathering, or exclude it from any public place, to avoid serious disruption to the life of the community. By 2022 it emerged that it was unclear whether JSO or XR gatherings caused ‘serious disruption’, and that police were therefore playing safe when it came to using the 1986 powers against them.
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