Our justice system is in tatters, yet what may be the first piece of bipartisan legislation to pass is one protecting the feelings of concrete.The government’s response to the protests of the past week followed a predictable pattern. Step 1: A flurry of headlines promising: “Violent protesters face jail within 24 hours”, optimism unencumbered by any understanding of the law, procedural fairness or how Covid-19-struck criminal courts are operating in practice. Step 2: Announce longer prison sentences for something. That something is apparently low-value criminal damage of war memorials, which, according to 125 Conservative MPs, is not being punished severely enough. So it was that backbench demands for a new offence carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years’ custody filled the Sunday press, with MPs vowing not to “stand idly by as our democracy is dismantled in this way”.
Seemingly sympathetic to the proposition that spray-painting a statue portends the dismantling of democracy, the government has thrown its weight behind the proposals, with the home secretary, attorney general and justice secretary all said to be supportive. What came as perhaps more of a surprise was the opposition joining the chorus. No doubt wary of falling into a populist-shaped elephant trap, the new shadow home secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, hitched Labour’s wagon to this nonsense, telling Sky News that he would “support the government in creating a new specific offence of protecting war memorials”.
Read more: The Secret Barrister, Opinion Guardian, https://is.gd/INePtD
