Government attacks on right to protest show Brexit threatens traditional British freedoms

The Rejoin EU Party welcomes the sacking of Suella Braverman. The party was particularly critical of her attempt to put political pressure on the Metropolitan Police to ban Saturday’s march in London because it represented yet another attack by the government on freedom of speech and the public’s democratic right to protest.

Party leader and former MEP Brendan Donnelly said, “There is an authoritarian streak to this government which should worry very much all those who care about this country’s democratic future.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Braverman and those who support her are among the most enthusiastic advocates of Brexit and of British withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Brexit was sold to the British electorate as a way of improving British democracy.

“The present Conservative government gives the lie to these promises. It treats Parliament with contempt. Its increasing hostility to the ECHR may end up depriving the British people of an important guarantee for their democratic rights in the UK and is incompatible with the Good Friday Agreement protecting peace in Northern Ireland.

“Brexit has done great damage to our economy. But it’s also doing just as much damage to standards in our political life. This economic and political damage will only be reversed when the UK re-joins the European Union. The longer we remain outside the EU, the more the economic and political damage will mount.”