It was a huge erosion of democracy when the UK applied the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 in April 2022. It gave police so much more illegitimate power of citizen that it almost felt like a giant step towards a Children Of Man scene. Police now can snatch anybody, for any suspicious reason from the streets and detain them without a charge for up to 16 hours. It was first widely used in September in the coronation of king charles where it was used to crush down on protests and since then was used several times to crush climate demonstrations. In a podcast about this topic, it was crazy how a woman described the new powers the police now have. It certainly is a step away from democracy and aligns more with a autocratic stance against its own citizens - I do not know if a police reform like that would had any success in an EU country as it is really cutting deep into the freedom rights of citizens. Next step would be for the UK to extend these rules to private homes or (as we see it already coming) private conversations. The UK is currently trying to outlaw encryption of private communication. I hope UK citizens are aware of where their country is currently drifting, as it does not look good from any angle and is a slippery slope to a much more authoritarian future.
Yes that’s the fucking point
The unfortunate thing is that I’m not sure most people care, or perhaps a more generous view would be that they’re too disengaged to notice…or care.
And unless I missed it, Labour have no plans to rescind it
Seems like the Lib Dems are against it at least.
I don’t think I remember any progression of authoritative laws and policy passed by a previous government being rescinded by the incumbent party. Only democratically progressive ones.
For all the ‘tHe LaSt LaBoUr GoVt’ hand wringing that the Tory party has repeated ad nauseum they didn’t pull back the various laws that they passed during their tenure. New Labour were pretty infamous for the onslaught of CCTV and trying to push through things like citizen ID cards and such. Many of the current police overreach that they have been afforded has its roots back in the days of Blair and Brown.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I would rather them than this decade long clown show any day. For my money they did a hell of a lot more positive than bad, but to come back around on the original statement, how much of that positive and progressive social policy and schemes survive vs the shit stuff?
Ah yes “finds report”.
Well Duh.
it’s increasingly depressing.
