There's a couple of threads about the policing bill but none I can see bringing the various strands of deeply concerning creeping UK authoritarianism together.
1. Government putting itself above the law. E.g. changes to judicial review; prime minister & gov officials breaking the law with relative impunity; coercing police to ignore or go easy on gov law breaking.
2. Government reducing media's ability to hold it to account. E.g. changes to official secrets act criminalising publishing whistleblowers.
3. Government reducing public's ability to hold gov to account through protest. The policing bill giving police sweeping powers to criminalise protests & snuff out dissenting voices.
4. Government putting itself in charge of the previously independent Election Commission. All sorts of scope for abuse of power here, reducing the ability of the people to hold the government to account at the ballot box.
5. Government guidance on education that it considers acceptable. See recent 'guidance' on politics and 'balance' in the classroom; presumably meaning that teachers are required to point out that colonial imperialism was quite good for the the colonised, as well as having the odd problem; and that black lives do matter, but so do white ones.
There may be other strands I have missed but these are the ones that immediately spring to mind. I don't think it's a stretch to suggest the present government is essentially authoritarian, and is enacting a series of measures to remove democratic guardrails aimed at the indefinite preservation of power. And that once these measures are in place there'll be more put forward to tighten the noose around democracy's neck.
1. Government putting itself above the law. E.g. changes to judicial review; prime minister & gov officials breaking the law with relative impunity; coercing police to ignore or go easy on gov law breaking.
2. Government reducing media's ability to hold it to account. E.g. changes to official secrets act criminalising publishing whistleblowers.
3. Government reducing public's ability to hold gov to account through protest. The policing bill giving police sweeping powers to criminalise protests & snuff out dissenting voices.
4. Government putting itself in charge of the previously independent Election Commission. All sorts of scope for abuse of power here, reducing the ability of the people to hold the government to account at the ballot box.
5. Government guidance on education that it considers acceptable. See recent 'guidance' on politics and 'balance' in the classroom; presumably meaning that teachers are required to point out that colonial imperialism was quite good for the the colonised, as well as having the odd problem; and that black lives do matter, but so do white ones.
There may be other strands I have missed but these are the ones that immediately spring to mind. I don't think it's a stretch to suggest the present government is essentially authoritarian, and is enacting a series of measures to remove democratic guardrails aimed at the indefinite preservation of power. And that once these measures are in place there'll be more put forward to tighten the noose around democracy's neck.
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