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Rishi Sunak admits oil-funded think tank helped write anti-protest laws [1]
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Date: 2023-07
Rishi Sunak has admitted a right-wing think tank that received funding from US oil giant ExxonMobil helped the government write its draconian anti-protest laws.
It serves as confirmation by the prime minister of openDemocracy’s revelations that last year’s controversial policing bill, which became the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Act, may have originated in a briefing from Policy Exchange.
While Policy Exchange keeps its donors a secret, our investigation found ExxonMobil Corporation donated $30,000 to its American fundraising arm in 2017.
Two years later, a report by the influential think tank titled ‘Extremism Rebellion’ said the government should implement new laws to target environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion (XR).
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In a speech earlier this week at Policy Exchange’s summer party, Sunak confirmed Policy Exchange’s brief “helped us draft” the government’s crackdown on protests, according to Politico.
The government has been heavily criticised by civil rights groups over the act. When the law was first introduced then-home secretary Priti Patel was open in saying it was intended to target XR.
Sections of the bill appeared to be directly inspired by the think tank’s report, which called for laws relating to public protest to be “urgently reformed in order to strengthen the ability of police to place restrictions on planned protest and deal more effectively with mass law-breaking tactics”.
The legislation gave police new powers to restrict the duration and noise level of static protests, or shut them down if they cause a “serious disruption”. It also introduced a new public nuisance offence that could see people jailed for a maximum of ten years for obstructing the public.
Suella Braverman has continued to pursue this crackdown on civil disobedience as home secretary by pushing through changes to the Public Order Act.
Police have also been granted more powers to stop and search anyone they suspect of planning to cause disruption. The government has been clear that the new laws have been designed to tackle peaceful protest methods used by groups such as Insulate Britain, Just Stop Oil and XR.
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[1] Url:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/rishi-sunak-right-wing-think-tank-anti-protest-laws-policy-exchange/
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