Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Simon Opher and Nicholas Dakin

Tuesday 3rd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dr Simon Opher (Stroud) (Lab)]

10. What assessment she has made of the potential merits of reviewing sentencing for peaceful protesters.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Sir Nicholas Dakin)]

It is a long-standing tradition in this country that people are free to peacefully protest and demonstrate their views provided they do so within the law. When people break the law, sentencing is a matter for the courts, which have a range of powers to deal with offenders effectively and appropriately.

[Dr Opher]

Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of a functioning and healthy democracy, but people in Stroud and across the country felt that the legislation passed by the Conservatives in 2022 limited the right to peacefully protest. One of my constituents, Adam Beard, with whom I have worked for over five years in my GP surgery, was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison for planning a peaceful protest. Given all the prison overcrowding, will the Minister consider whether peaceful protesters could at least avoid custodial sentences?

[Sir Nicholas Dakin]

The right to peacefully protest is a cornerstone of our democracy, as my hon. Friend rightly says, and this Government will protect and preserve that right. The post-legislative scrutiny of the Public Order Act 2023 began this month, and we will carefully consider the results of that review, along with the recommendations of the independent sentencing review.