We must do more to protect our politicians and institutions from intimidation, Lord Walney has stated in a report on ‘protecting our democracy from coercion’.
The 294-page report urges the authorities to confront extreme protest movements on the liberal principles of ‘upholding parliamentary democracy and the rule of law, defending free expression and the free press, and not supporting or advocating for hostile states and non-state actors’. The report goes over protest by political extremes – notably the far right, far left, environmentalists, and single-issue and conspiracy theorist protesters such as against covid vaccination; and attacks on people in public life – politicians, journalists in the media; and academics and teachers.
The report stated that ‘the extreme right-wing in the UK has evolved away from structured terrorist groups to a more diffuse online threat’. On the authorities’ responses to protest, Walney noted Expedited Public Spaces Protection Orders (E-PSPOs) that are limited to public places in the vicinity of a school, NHS vaccine or test and trace site within the area of the council setting the order.
“Far too little is in place to support businesses and industries that are impacted by disruption or targeted by extreme activists blocking their premises and causing criminal damage,” the report says. It recommends that the Government consider a civil measure, ‘making it easier for businesses to pursue extreme protest organisers for damages’. Notably for defence manufacturers and energy providers, ‘whose operations are being disrupted by illegal protest’, a ‘protective buffer zone’ is suggested around sites, or ‘expediting injunctions on certain protestors not to enter such a zone’. On the legal side, the report suggests ‘requiring protest organisers to contribute to policing costs when groups are holding a significant number of large demonstrations which cause serious disruption or significant levels of law-breaking’.
The report stated: “Like radical animal rights groups in the 1990s and 2000s, pro-Palestinian activists sabotaging Israeli-linked businesses with whom they disagree – such as the group Palestine Action – creates an unacceptable climate of intimidation for companies and their staff, has a detrimental effect on local economies, and risks copycat attacks or escalation.” As the report sets out, much of the political violence documented in the review ‘is rioting and street violence directed towards police and other activists during protests and counter-protests’, and the report considers at what point does political violence reach the ‘terrorism threshold’.
Just Stop Oil is described by the report as a splinter group of Extinction Rebellion, and having ‘used disruption tactics, such as blocking roads and critical fuel sites around the country, and, increasingly, high-profile acts of vandalism and disruption of sporting or cultural events’. The report notes that ‘the burden on policing is significant’ due to the ‘theatrical’ protest acts, based on ‘a radical environmentalist agenda that is also often fundamentally rooted in an anarchist and anti-capitalist ideology’. The report comments that it’s ‘simply wrong to use expressions of force to try to subvert the democratic process rather than engaging in the difficult but necessary task of winning public consent for your proposals through legitimate means, no matter how important you think those proposals are’. The report warns of the risk of ‘lone actors inspired by the urgency of the environmentalist message engaging in riskier or violent activism’.
(In an online statement, Just Stop Oil said that it ‘does not recognise the legitimacy of this report’. It said its supporters ‘will continue to take the proportional action necessary to generate political pressure’ and that this summer ‘airports will be declared sites of civil resistance’.)
On threats to members of parliament, the report notes that the police’s Operation Bridger was launched in 2015, overseen by the Parliamentary Security Department, ‘to provide additional security measures to all MPs, and was added to after the terrorist murder of Jo Cox MP in 2016’. Among the report’s recommendations, it calls on the Home Secretary to order a review of the balance between access and security within the area surrounding the Houses of Parliament. As for the online world, the report urges that the regulator Ofcom holds tech firms to account, for example that they do not over-rely on ‘Automated Content Moderation’. “Outside of content that incites violence or criminal hatred, the Government should give greater protection to the right to freedom of expression in the ongoing debate on internet safety.” the report recommends.
Among other recommendations, the report calls on the Government ‘to strengthen the legislative framework for responding to political protest, political violence, and disruption’, and to improve police intelligence.
Ministerial statement
Home Secretary James Cleverley called the report a ‘call to action’ to remain vigilant and resilient. In a statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday, Home Office minister Tom Tugendhat described the Walney report as ‘timely and compelling’ and said ‘there is no doubt that extremism poses a threat to our democracy’. On causes, Tugendhat said: “In this vein, the government has updated the definition of extremism to be used by government departments and officials, alongside a set of engagement principles. This is to ensure they do not – whether inadvertently or otherwise – provide a platform, funding, or legitimacy to groups or individuals who attempt to advance extremist ideologies that would deny our fundamental rights and freedoms.
Background
As Tugendhat reminded the Commons, Lord Walney (formerly the Labour MP for Barrow, John Woodcock) was appointed by then Conservative PM Boris Johnson in 2019 to advise the government on political violence and extremism; and appointed to carry out the review in February 2021.
