Labour has decided today that it will be opposing the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill when it has its second reading in the Commons tomorrow. Some of the party’s MPs say they had been told they would be whipped to abstain on this stage of the Bill, but following the scenes on Clapham Common last night, shadow frontbenchers have rushed to say they will vote against.
I understand that the party hadn’t reached a firm position on whipping until today, though there had been discussions within the PLP about what the position would be. But there was a discussion this morning between Sir Keir Starmer, Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds and Shadow Justice Secretary David Lammy where the three agreed that though they do not oppose all of the measures in the bill, as a package it needs to be opposed.
As I said earlier today, the Bill couldn’t be starting its progress through the Commons at a worse time politically, given the way the Clapham vigil in memory of Sarah Everard was policed. Even though police say they were enforcing Coronavirus laws, their actions have become entangled in a wider row about whether the government is trying to restrict the right to protest more generally.
The problem for Sir Keir Starmer is that this legislation isn’t just about protest. It is an enormous bill, covering sentences for sex offenders and people who assault emergency workers, as well as homicide reviews involving offensive weapons and reforms to pre-charge bail. One of the reasons, of course, for lumping all these things together is that if you’re going to vote against the bill because you disagree with one part, you end up being accused of opposing tougher sentences for paedophiles – which is exactly what the Conservatives have already said about Labour.
Aside from Starmer’s critics in the party badging this late decision as a U-turn, another problem for the party is that the measures on protest are partly targeted at the disruption caused by the Extinction Rebellion protests. So the next time there is a particularly unpopular protest that doesn’t have the same kind of public support as a vigil for a murdered woman, then the Tories will accuse Labour of voting down legislation that would have stopped the disruption. Then again, the Conservatives are going to make a big mistake if they allow the only political legacy from this case to be a fight over a piece of legislation that does very little to tackle violence against women.
Comments