Thousands of pieces of secondary legislation go through Parliament each year but rarely will any get more than a cursory glance from the public or the media. Often they will tend to deal with minor subjects or commence Acts of Parliament.
However the Public Order Act 1986 (Serious Disruption to the Life of the Community) Regulations 2023 has done more than raise a few eyebrows and could even face a challenge in the courts.
The basic idea behind the regulations is fairly simple: they would impose restrictions on protests that represent “a hindrance that is more than minor to, the carrying out of day-to-day activities”. Particular references to protests that hinder journeys seems to be a clear reference to Just Stop Oil and further a government policy that tries to stop such disruptive demonstrations.
The wider implications of such draconian measures speak for themselves. The Public Order Act 1986 currently requires a threshold of “serious disruption to the life of the community” but the regulations would alter that so that the threshold is much lower.
However perhaps the more important legal and constitutional aspect of the regulations is that the legislative change has already been proposed (and rejected!) by Parliament.