Blog: Why we must all resist this wicked Trojan Horse

This mammoth bill, currently being fast-tracked through committee stage in the House of Lords, is a populist, multifaceted attack on our rights. Committee stage, when done properly, is vital for basic civil liberties issues, as real bi-partisan debate can dent any overreaching clauses. The bill has some parts that UNISON has campaigned for, like strengthening measures against harming front-line workers. But the government’s own Joint Committee on Human Rights agrees that it mainly consists of serious, basic threats to our civil liberties: The scope of laws that already disproportionately impact Black and minority communities, such as Stop and Search and laws making life for Gypsy and Roma traveller communities almost impossible, are set to be broadened; It introduces new duties on frontline workers (including youth workers) that will break down hard-won relationships of trust by forcing them to share private data, no matter what other legal assurances of confidentiality are given; It places avoiding ‘causing serious unease’ (an undefined and unmeasurable concept) as more important than our historic right to peacefully protest. These are knee-jerk reactions that attack our democratic right to protest (and the areas protests can take place), increase criminal penalties for people who fall foul of police-imposed conditions, and create altogether new offences and criminal penalties. The sheer breadth of measures is staggering and seems deliberately designed to avoid p...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Article General secretary's blog News Source Type: news