How you can have your say on Priti Patel’s anti-protest Public Order Bill

The public has been invited to have their say on Priti Patel’s new anti-protest Public Order Bill.

The bill would create new criminal offences for protesters, and allow the police to ban certain people from attending protests.

Parliament is asking those with relevant experience, expertise, or a special interest in the bill, to submit written evidence, as the bill reaches its committee stage.

New crimes in the bill include “locking on”, interfering with key national infrastructure, and would also introduce “Serious Disruption Prevention Orders” which would ban people from going to protests if they “repeatedly engage in disruptive protest activity.”

Many of the measures are attempts to revive powers rejected by the House of Lords earlier this year, when it voted on elements of the now-passed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

A move to expand stop and search powers prompted civil liberties groups to warn that the bill will lead to “more criminalisation of Black people”.

Neither the Home Office nor Priti Patel has tweeted about the call for the public to have its say, although Patel has celebrated her bill passing its second reading in the Commons.

To submit written evidence, email scrutiny@parliament.uk

House of Commons advice states submissions should be no longer than 3,000 words long, begin with a bullet point summary, and include recommendations for action.

Most evidence submitted to committees is also published online.

Documents must not be in a pdf format, and must be less than 25mb in size. The full advice on how to make a successful submission can be read here.

The deadline for written evidence is – dependent on when the bill’s committee stage finishes – expected to be 5pm on June 21. However, the parliament website says: “You are strongly advised to submit your written evidence as soon as possible.”