Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of recent legislation on protest; and when she expects to publish the review led by Lord Macdonald.

The Government reviews public order legislation to ensure that it strikes the right balance between safeguarding the right to peaceful protest and enabling the police to maintain public order and keep communities safe.

On 18 June we published post-legislative scrutiny of the Public Order Act 2023, which provides a preliminary assessment of the Act and an objective overview of the use of its provisions: Public Order Act 2023: post-legislative scrutiny - GOV.UK.

Lord Macdonald submitted the report of the Independent Review of Public Order and Hate Crime Legislation to the Home Secretary on 29 May. The Government intends to publish the report alongside the Government’s response shortly.