Jonathan Fluxman spoke at today's Cabinet Meeting about Brent Trades Council's concerns LINK that proposed Brent-wide Public Space Protection Orders (PSPO ) prohibitions on the use of megaphones and amplified microphones would curb the free speech rights of political campaigners and protestors.
Fluxman said that in the present form in which the prohibition was framed there was no exemption for such protests, He went on to criticise what he termed a 'flawed consultation and said that Brent Trades Council should have been directly consulted on this aspect of the PSPO proposal.
Commenting on the meeting he said:
We were pleased to hear several reassurances from Cllr Butt that the PSPO is not intended to limit protest. My comments are now on record. I said in its present form there is no exemption, and we would like to see the wording of the exemption to ensure our rights to protest are protected. Cllr Butt said everything would be minuted and the right to protest would not be restricted: the right to protest is protected in law.
He also said we would be added as stakeholders in future, and indicated to the officers that they should do so.
We do need to ensure that the wording of the PSPO is clear when it is published, but it is all minuted, and the Cabinet were clear that the our fundamental rights to demonstrate will not be limited.
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