Overview
- The amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill would create a new offence for demonstrations outside the private homes of MPs, peers, judges and local councillors when intended to influence their public duties or private lives.
- Those convicted could face up to six months in prison, and police would gain clearer powers to stop and disperse such protests.
- Official residences are excluded, so protests could still occur outside Downing Street and grace-and-favour homes such as Chequers and Dorneywood.
- A Commons survey found 96% of MPs have experienced harassment or intimidation, and election overseers reported more than half of candidates faced threats or intimidation at the last general election.
- The plan has backing from the Jo Cox Foundation and criticism from civil liberties campaigners over protest rights, and the bill also proposes new offences on climbing war memorials, using flares or fireworks, and masking identities in designated protest zones.