Public Order Act 2023

Key Points

• Aggravated offences for hostility toward sex or gender: the Act adds an offence that is aggravated if a protest offence is linked to hostility towards someone's sex or gender, signalling a tougher stance against gender-based hostility at protests.
• Serious disruption regime and injunctions: a new framework to prevent serious disruption to essential goods and services, including avenues to seek injunctions in the High Court to stop protest activity that disrupts critical supply chains or infrastructure.
• State-led civil action and enforcement: the government can bring civil proceedings in its name to obtain injunctions, with powers linked to remand and arrest, expanding the ways protests can be restrained or halted.
• Protections for journalists and observers: the law includes provisions aimed at safeguarding journalists, legal observers, academics and bystanders who report on protests or police activity.
• Police powers and infrastructure focus: amendments around the British Transport Police, limits on stop-and-search without suspicion, and provisions targeting disruption in specific infrastructure (e.g., tunnels created for protest); several controversial powers were either refined or removed to balance enforcement with civil liberties.

Progress

The bill progressed through both Houses, with Lords amendments debated and largely replaced or accepted by the Commons. It received Royal Assent on 2 May 2023, making it law.

Voting

In general, the Conservative Party backed the bill while Labour and most other opposition parties opposed it. A number of government-proposed safeguards (such as protections for journalists and certain transport-related provisions) were agreed in the Commons, while some Labour-led proposals (like formal definitions of “serious disruption” and wider civil remedies) were defeated. Overall, the government secured the passage of the bill despite opposition from Labour and others.