Government is “seeking to ban groups it disagrees with”, says Good Law Project

Responding to Lord Walney’s review of protests, Good Law Project executive director Jo Maugham said: 

“We are firmly into the territory of our government banning organisations whose politics it disagrees with. This is a sinister and shameful development, which moves us closer to the plastic democracies of Turkey and Hungary and further from our peers.

“Clamping down on dissent does not make issues like global conflict and the climate crisis go away. A competent government that values freedom of speech would be trying to solve the big issues, not criminalise the messengers.

“The man responsible for this report, Lord Walney, has links to an arms manufacturer supplying weapons to Israel which has been targeted by Palestine Action, as well as the oil and gas industry whose ecocide Just Stop Oil targets. What really motivates this report – the public interest or money?”

The Guardian has revealed Lord Walney’s  lobbying links to companies that would benefit from curbs to protesting.