The looming challenge on police protest powers

MPs and peers are going to spend the next few weeks in an almighty fight about strikes and protests. Today the Commons debates the second reading of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill. Business Secretary Grant Shapps and Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner are going head-to-head on legislation requiring unions in key sectors to provide minimum service levels even during strike action – or face being sued. In the Lords, peers will soon be debating the final stage of the Public Order Bill, which today gains a big new amendment that gives the police more powers to stop protests from becoming disruptive. 

The protests amendment is a big deal. It was requested by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley after he and other senior police officers became concerned that their forces didn’t have sufficient clarity in law about when they could step in to break up a protest.