The UK’s Disastrous PCSC Bill, the Rise of Fascism, or just a Terrible Blunder?

Has Boris faltered again, or is this all according to plan?

Photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill has been a hot-button issue as of late, and for good reason. Cloaked in otherwise mundane propositions is something frightening. Section 59 of the bill proposes that people who take part in any protest deemed to be causing “public nuisance” should be sentenced “to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, to a fine or to both.”

To translate that into something that less resembles legal word-vomit, you can go to prison for up to 10 years for participating in any protest that is deemed a nuisance. What a nuisance is defined as is not made clear. So, essentially, this could be used to break up any protests that the government or police force dislike. The UK government states that this will not be used to “undermine freedom of expression,” but these words are not backed up by recent words or actions.

This is absolutely unacceptable, but is this a sinister plot to turn the United Kingdom into a fascist dictatorship, or is it just a gaffe born of Boris Johnson’s disregard for common sense? I personally believe that, while neither are entirely true, the former is more true than the latter. A proposal such as this serves no purpose other than to silence opposition, encourage police brutality, and give more power to the state.

This is a blatant attempt to hold power, and it must be stopped. Thankfully, the less terrible political party has decided to vote against the bill, and hopefully this horrendous idea will be stopped dead in its tracks. Only time will tell the future of the UK. Hopefully that future involves ceasing the colonization of Northern Ireland, but I digress.