Brighton MP blasts government 'snowflakes' over new bill

Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle's comments come on the dayMPs are debating the government's Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill's second reading.

Within the bill, plans to give police more powers to restrict protests and demonstrations have been singled out for particular criticism, especially given the clashes between officers and crowds at Sarah Everard vigils over the weekend.

If the bill is passed, police would be able to impose start and finish times on protests, as well as setting noise limits. They could also apply these restrictions to a protest involving a single person.

But Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle slammed the suggestions as "disastrous" and branded the government as "snowflakes" for planning to put in place rules which could moderate the actions of those speaking out against them.

The term "snowflake" has been widely-used by the likes of former Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan to describe those believed to be easily offended. It has largely been employed as a derogatory term towards younger generations, but Mr Russell-Moyle argued its application may have been misdirected.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle

"I'm really worried that we are moving into this world of... Piers Morgan would call it snowflakes. But the reality is it is the government who are the snowflakes. They are so afraid of anyone saying something they don't like that they have to make it illegal or ban it. It's so dangerous," he said

"I don't always agree with people, but that's democracy. And this closing down of democracy, suggesting democracy should just be in the ballot box.

"But actually, protest is meant to be a bit annoying, it's meant to be a bit irritating, it's meant to be a bit in your face - that is the nature of democracy."

Mr Russell-Moyle said that it would not only be protesters that were negatively impacted by this bill, but also police.

He said: "This (bill) will increase tension between communities that, quite rightly, want to express their views and the police. And so it lets down the police, actually, and it lets down those communities, particularly in Brighton where we have a thriving, democratic society.

"The police will get a load of aggro about this. They will have to make difficult decisions which they are not equipped or resourced to make and then they will have to enforce it.

• READ MORE: Anger over Sussex Police arrests at Sarah Everard vigil in Brighton

"Now, who does that help? Does it help the police that they are having to enforce things which they are ill-equipped to do? No.

"Does it help the police that they are distracted by having to vet every single protest, including one person protests, and then they have to divert resources to that rather than real crimes? No."

He said the weekend's clashes between police and those attending a vigil for Sarah Everard were an example of this.

"What you are seeing now is that police are getting a lot of flack for their thuggish behaviour, and it was thuggish, but they are quite rightly getting flack for it because they didn't follow what the High Court said which was that they should work with the protesters," Mr Russell-Moyle said.

"They will get more and more flack if the courts are taken out of the process and it's just the police who will have to do this every single time, and that's not good for anyone."

Mr Russell-Moyle also argued that there had not been enough time to discuss the proposed legal reforms.

He said: "For some parts of the bill, they put a consultation out. The consultation was only published less than two weeks ago.

"Large parts of it, the police themselves have said they did not want - like with the parts impacting traveller communities - but the government has insisted.

"Two weeks is not long enough to absorb what the police have said and make the proper amendments, so it's rushed in that sense. But it is also dangerous because they have taken some good bits, needing to do criminal justice reform, for example.

Pictures from the vigil in memory of Sarah Everard in Brighton, where police issued eight fines and made one arrest for breaches of the coronavirus lockdown rules

"Even those aren't that good, but everyone thinks that something needs to happen and they have chosen the least bit about it all.

"They have taken some OK bits and put them with some awful, draconian bits. Then they try to pull the wool over everyone's eyes and say, 'oh well look, there are some important bits here'.

"We know how this works. The public aren't stupid. Come on, let's play proper grown up politics which is where we debate these separate issues as they are and let's be able to come to an agreement where we need to be able to reform the courts, then throw out all this very draconian, extremist stuff around travellers and police and statues. It's all just so unnecessary."