Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the proportion of journeys in the UK that have been disrupted by a lawful protest in the last 12 months.

Just Stop Oil have engaged in repeated protests across London, involving a total of 124 slow walks. These have caused immense frustration for those ordinary people trying to go about their daily lives. They have resulted in the use of over 12,500 police officer shifts, diverting police attention away from our local communities. In 2022, Just Stop Oil were responsible for over 75 days of turmoil, the police response to this cost the taxpayer over £14.5 million.

The dangerous tactics used by Just Stop Oil on the M25 resulted in significant backlogs, meaning tens of thousands of drivers were gridlocked for hours. National Highways have stated that these methods cause significant economic harm, disruption, and inconvenience to the general public.

The Public Order Act 2023 received royal assent on 2 May and introduces new measures which improve the police’s ability to manage highly disruptive protests and take a proactive approach to prevent such disruption happening in the first place. For example, the lock-on offence and the associated stop and search power will allow the police to pro-actively prevent the selfish minority of protesters causing serious disruption on our roads.

A statutory instrument has been presented to further define the term ‘serious disruption’ and will provide the police with greater clarity over when to intervene with public assemblies and processions to prevent serious disruption to the life of the community.