Neil Parpworth dissects the proposed new public order offences contained within the Crime & Policing Bill
- Part 9 of the Crime and Policing Bill proposes three new public order offences.
- These are concealing a person’s identity in the context of a protest; being in possession of a ‘pyrotechnic article’ at a protest; and climbing on a specified war memorial.
The Labour government’s Crime and Policing Bill had its first reading in the House of Commons on 25 February 2025. It is a substantial measure which, in its present form, consists of 137 clauses and 17 schedules. A number of its provisions have been borrowed directly from the previous Conservative government’s Criminal Justice Bill, which got as far as the report stage in the 2023–24 parliamentary session before the general election intervened.
Thus, for example, both Bills made/make largely identical provision for a new warrantless power to enter and search for bladed articles, which may be seized if found, and for a further warrantless power of entry, search and seizure in relation to electronically
