Business of the House Debate

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Department: Leader of the House

Business of the House

Ellie Chowns Excerpts
Thursday 3rd April 2025

(1 week ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lucy Powell Portrait Lucy Powell
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I absolutely join my hon. Friend in congratulating the RSPB in Geltsdale and Howgill Beck, which sounds fantastic. I am actually a member of the RSPB, in part because my son is a bit of a keen twitcher, and I am sure he will be nagging me to pay a visit to her constituency and see that fantastic project.

Ellie Chowns Portrait Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)
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Last night I attended the meeting for worship at Westminster Quaker meeting house. Last Thursday, that place of worship was forcefully raided by 20 police officers, equipped with tasers, and they arrested six women and charged them in relation to planning a peaceful protest. That raises important questions about the criminalisation of public protest, and indeed religious freedom. May we have a debate in Government time about the need to repeal those elements of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023 that have such a repressive effect on the right to peaceful protest, which is a cornerstone of British democracy?

Lucy Powell Portrait Lucy Powell
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I am sure the hon. Lady would not expect me to comment on that particular case, as that is an operational matter for the police, but she is right to say that the right to protest is a fundamental part of our democracy, and one that we hold dear. We also have to balance the right to protest with protecting the right of the law-abiding majority to go about their daily lives, free from disruption, and that is the comment I will make in that regard.