Labour MPs vote through draconian law giving police powers to ban recurring protests

Labour MPs voted on Tuesday to pass a law that would significantly restrict the right to protest, granting the UK police sweeping powers to criminalise sustained strike action. 

Recurring protests which might have no connection to each other could now be banned by police on the basis of “cumulative disruption” caused by past or future planned protests in the same “area”.

More than 45 civil society groups, including the Trade Union Congress and Greenpeace, joined together to oppose the draconian crackdown on fundamental freedoms of protest and assembly.

Several MPs also opposed the amendment, with Labour MP Andy McDonald tabling a motion which gained widespread cross-party support, but Labour's large parliamentary majority passed it through regardless.

Human Rights Watch previously reported that the UK’s anti-protest laws may be “in breach” of its international human rights obligations, with the potential to undermine the “fabric of democracy”, particularly with its move to proscribe the direct action group Palestine Action, which the High Court deemed "unlawful".

Tonight Labour MPs voted to erode our right to protest, handing police sweeping powers that could criminalise sustained strike action as "cumulative disruption."

This is a direct escalation against the Palestine solidarity movement that has brought hundreds of thousands onto the…

— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) April 14, 2026