Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of revising sentencing guidelines to protect the right to protest.

The right to peacefully protest is a cornerstone of our democracy. It is a long-standing tradition in this country that people are able to gather together and to express a point of view, provided that they do so within the law. The Government is fully committed to protecting and preserving that right.

Sentencing guidelines are developed by the independent Sentencing Council for England and Wales, in fulfilment of its statutory duty to do so. The guidelines produced provide the Court with guidance on factors that should be considered, which may affect the sentence given. They set out different levels of sentence based on the harm caused and how culpable the offender is.

As an independent body, the Council decides its own work plan and priorities. The Lord Chancellor or the Court of Appeal can ask the Council to consider producing or revising guidelines in a particular area, but the Council is not required to agree to any such requests.

The definitive guidelines on the sentencing of public order offences were issued by the Council on 25 September 2019 and came into force on 1 January 2020. The Council is currently developing guidelines for additional public order offences.