Prime Minister Boris Johnson is aiming for a restructuring of the British state. A whole bunch of new laws could result in a police state. Critics and experts are appalled by the plans.
The “Party Gate” affair has clearly affected British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Criticism is also getting louder from within the company’s own ranks. However, legal experts are even more worried about something else: They accuse Johnson of undermining democracy in the kingdom.
Johnson could almost be reminded of Pippi Longstocking. “I make the world how I like it”: Critics and the opposition accuse him of rebuilding the country to suit his taste, without considering fundamental democratic rights. “Britain is heading towards authoritarianism,” columnist George Monbiot recently commented in the Guardian newspaper. And the news site Open Democracy noted: “British democracy is under attack.”
Critics: Boris Johnson restructuring would be tantamount to a “police state”.
It is not a single law that has activists, legal experts and opposition in a frenzy. It’s a whole bundle of projects that all go through parliament independently of one another, but which work in concert with one another. From the critics’ point of view, the result would be nothing more than a police state in the often praised “motherland of democracy”. The “Partygate” affair about lockdown celebrations at the seat of government on Downing Street made it clear that Johnson does not care about morality and decency, critics accuse the prime minister. And the planned laws show that he puts law and democracy aside when it doesn’t suit him.
In the planned restructuring of the state, Johnson will benefit from the fact that Great Britain does not have a written constitution, but that freedoms are anchored in individual laws – which can be overturned with a simple majority. So could the UK become the Authoritarian Kingdom in a coup?
Take the judiciary as an example: This Tuesday, a law will be discussed in the London House of Commons that aims to ensure the independence of the judiciary. New powers could limit or eliminate the retrospective validity of a judge’s ruling against a government decision, Bar Association chief Stephanie Boyce told the Financial Times. This would mean that there would no longer be any legal remedy for those affected – not even for those who brought the case.
The magazine “Tribune” suspects that Johnson, his Attorney General Dominic Raab and Attorney General Suella Braverman do not want to leave it at that. “They hope to allow the government to simply ignore decisions it doesn’t agree with,” the left-wing newspaper commented.
Politics could undermine the judiciary
The judiciary has been a thorn in the side of the prime minister since the Supreme Court declared Johnson’s parliamentary recess illegal in 2019. But the conservatives have been putting pressure on for a long time: in 2016, the newspaper “Daily Mail” castigated three judges on the front page as “enemies of the people”. You had emphasized the role of Parliament in the Brexit process. Author of the headline: Johnson’s later head of communications James Slack.
It should not stop with the courts. Home Secretary Priti Patel’s plans are causing a lot of excitement. The hardliner wants to deter refugees by denying illegal migrants any opportunity to apply for asylum in the country. Patel is under considerable pressure, as the number of refugees who have come into the country via the English Channel has recently increased significantly. The Conservatives had advertised that Brexit would end freedom of movement “once and for all” (Patel).
But the country’s own population is also threatened by the “Nationality and Borders Bill”. Residents with dual citizenship or birthplace abroad, whom the government sees as a security threat, could be stripped of their British passports – without warning. According to calculations by the weekly newspaper “The New Statesman”, almost six million people fall into this category.
Law could restrict assembly rights
Another law passed by the Minister of the Interior provides for a significant restriction on the right of assembly. According to the draft, the police can ban or break up protests if third parties feel disturbed by the noise or traffic routes are blocked. This is aimed at large rallies such as the Black Lives Matter demonstrations or radical climate protests, to which the government reacted outraged.
The relief was therefore great when the most drastic points in the upper house of parliament failed with a bang – and since the government had only recently amended them, it is now not allowed to bring the draft up again in the lower house, where it has a clear majority. But Justice Minister Raab has already made it clear that, if necessary, he will introduce his own demonstration law. The opponents’ success will not last long, commented the Times.
Source From: Stern
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