The right to protest isn’t a gift from government. It’s a democratic principle, hard-won and easily lost. Last night the government tried to smuggle through a “cumulative disruption” power that would let police ban protests simply because other people had protested in the same area before. Think about what that means: your right to march could be extinguished by someone else’s march on an entirely different issue. They knew this wouldn’t survive proper scrutiny - so they denied MPs the time to give it any. I supported the cross-party motion to oppose the cumulative disruption amendment. The government used its majority to force it through regardless. Protest is supposed to be disruptive. That’s the point. From the suffragettes to the anti-apartheid movement, it was cumulative, persistent, inconvenient protest that changed this country for the better. One of the most authoritarian political parties in modern British history is leading in the polls. As I said in the chamber when the government proscribed Palestine Action - a progressive Labour government should be building firewalls for our democracy, not tearing them down and pitch-rolling for Reform. This Bill isn’t law yet. It now returns to the Lords, and this fight is far from over.