Last night (13 June) the Labour Party abstained from a vote in the House of Lords on amendments to the Public Order Bill, triggered by a Fatal Motion tabled by the Green Party’s Baroness Jenny Jones.
The vote, which totalled 154-68, was on a piece of secondary legislation which changes the definition of ‘a serious disruption’ to ‘anything more than minor’.
A fatal motion is a rare parliamentary procedure that has the potential to kill off the passage of government legislation and is the strongest opposition which can be taken in the House of Lords.
Both Green peers, Natalie Bennett and Jenny Jones, ten Labour Lords, and several Lib Dem Lords and crossbenchers voted in favour of the Fatal Motion. A petition asking the Labour Party to support the motion received over 64,000 signatures.
This morning (14 June), Baroness Jenny Jones commented on Twitter that she was ‘seething’ and called the proceedings ‘a mess’.
I've woken at the usual time of 5am and am still seething/churning about the debate. What a debacle. What a mess. More repressive law AND less democracy, all in one small Statutory Instrument. It doesn't bode well for the next year or so.
— Jenny Jones (@GreenJennyJones) June 14, 2023
Several individuals have also expressed their distress at the proceedings, including Gary Lineker and crossbencher Lord Pannick.
Deary, deary me. https://t.co/LdFBWCHmQm
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) June 14, 2023
Lord Pannick - "All we can do is express regret... I express regret that Labour is not prepared to see through the implications of their own view, that this is a constitutional outrage.... it's something we should stand up against, & vote against." pic.twitter.com/KHVpwh24s2
— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) June 13, 2023
Liberty HQ has launched a legal case against Suella Braverman and the Home Office.
