This December was filled with public outrage over a series of Christmas parties held by the Conservative Government in 2020 whilst the rest of the UK was plunged into harsh Covid restrictions and lockdowns, restrictions which had been in place for almost a whole year. Before that, fury had been directed at the government over Matt Hancock’s affair, and some, admittedly rather expensive, wallpaper in Downing Street. It’s disheartening to say the least that these are the issues that have captured the public imagination so vividly. Though they are evidence of wider accusations of corruption, and the government’s contempt from the public, for accountability, and for the rules. However, these accusations are, in the grand scheme of what the government is doing politically, insignificant.
Under this Conservative government, Britain is becoming a police state. The government has introduced three pieces of legislation which damage our rights, create a police state, and place the government above the law and all accountability. Though none of these acts have yet been passed into law (at the time of writing), the lack of media coverage, political commentary, and general outrage as the government plans to strip us off our freedoms is frightening.
The Police, Courts, Sentencing and Crime Bill promises an entire “overhaul” of policing, the criminal justice system and sentencing legislation. The bill has since passed through its third reading in the House of Commons. Much of the controversy surrounding the bill centres on its banning of the right to protest, for example: the government will be granted the ability to declare any protest illegal at will, attending an ‘illegal’ protest, or a protest that is considered “noisy” or disruptive will land you up to 10 years in prison. Posting online to encourage people to attend a ‘disruptive’ protest will result in you being put on the protest blacklist, a list which bans individuals from attending any protest, which, if broken, could land you up to 51 weeks in prison. “Locking on” to anyone or anything will also result in 51 weeks in prison, whilst blocking a road (clearly legislation created to stop the recent Insulate Britain protests) will result in up to 6 months in prison, unlimited fines and travel bans. There’s not any clarity here on what constitutes a “noisy” or disruptive protest, considering the point of a protest is to be loud and disruptive to draw attention to a particular issue. This bill gives the government too many powers, the ability to criminalise large groups of people for daring to question or challenge the government. We have a fundamental right to protest. We take for granted how much of our current freedoms were won by the effect of protests. This bill gives the government and the police far too many discretionary powers. Though you may not attend protests yourself, protests should be an indelible human right. The desire to remove these rights, and to reframe them as privileges granted to us by the state, reeks of authoritarianism. It is not just criminalising the right to protest, however. This bill increases police power and authority. Increasing the police’s stop and search powers, which already disproportionately affect Black and Brown people, as they are six times more likely to be stopped and searched than White people. The bill also targets the rights of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community. Section 4 of the bill will make “residing or intending to reside on land without the permission of the owner or occupier” a new criminal offence, threatening the culture and way of life for a community which already faces much marginalisation and vilification.
The Nationality and Borders Bill is another such piece of insidious legislation, attacking the most vulnerable people in the most desperate situations. The entire document is ultimately an anti-refugee bill, criminalising those who enter the UK “illegally” whilst simultaneously working to ensure their route across the channel is as un-viable as possible. Making a route less safe, however, will not deter desperate people from making the crossing, it will just result in more people dead. However, it is the last-minute addition of clause 9 which is most worrying. This clause gives the government the right to strip people of their British citizenship without informing them. Nearly six million people in England and Wales could potentially be affected, including 2 in every 5 people from non-white ethnic minority groups, compared to 1 in 20 white people.
Since the 2014 Immigration Act, the state has been able to revoke citizenship to those who have a recent history of immigration, or who could theoretically claim citizenship elsewhere. That these people can theoretically claim citizenship in another country, rather than considering the practical reality, is no matter to the government. It’s all part of the broader strategy of the Hostile Environment, to make racialised citizens feel a sense of unease and insecurity, and to remind them of the ‘otherness’, the fact that they’re not really ‘British’. However, the Nationality and Borders Bill goes further, by removing the requirement to inform the individual that their citizenship will be being revoked, thus leaving them stateless, with no recourse to repeal. The case of Shamima Begum set a dangerous precedent. Though it is unlikely that the government will use this power to strip six million people of their British citizenship without notice, it implements the framework for this to be a possibility. Of course, even though people may not be deprived of their citizenship, it’s the sword dangling over their head that it could happen, at any time and for any reason. It will denote racialised people to a second-class state, will create division, will increase racism and xenophobia, and, will make the lives of millions more stressful and precarious. Borders are not just physical demarcations, they are pervasive and permeate all corners of everyday life, they imbed themselves into the psychology of the nation. The concept of “us and them” is deeply psychologically rooted in modern consciousness after decades of xenophobia and racism, and ever expanding right-wing nationalism.
The government also introduced it’s Human Rights Act, a plan to “restore common sense” to our laws, according to justice secretary Dominic Raab. In reality, it’s goal is “to weaken vital human rights protections, make justice conditional on good behaviour and insulate the state from accountability” according to Martha Spurrier, in an article for the Guardian. One aspect of the Human Rights Act is in removing the right to family and private life. Though this is framed in the guise of deporting “foreign criminals”, as explored with the Nationality and Borders bill it will have a wider, more damaging impact. Once you begin taking rights away from one group, it is certainly easier to remove those rights from others, and in this case, not just for migrants and other racialised people. Both this Guardian article referenced above and this twitter thread, by Martha Spurrier outline the details and implications of this new proposed legislation. Ironically, the new Human Rights reforms will “protect free speech”. Free speech is already protected within the current Human Rights legislation. This commitment to protecting freedom of speech is ironic considering the government’s effective ban on protests under the Police, Courts, Sentencing and Crime Bill. So who’s freedom of speech does this act actually protect?
Combined together, these reforms, the commitment to Voter ID at elections, and the government’s general attitude of contempt for the rules, the people of this country, and their insistent belief that they are above accountability is terrifying. Britain is slowly but surely beginning its descent into a police state. We must do something. We cannot sit by as our rights and freedoms are stripped away from us, and, as the rights are stripped away from the most vulnerable people in society, we must stand up for them and alongside them.
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