This week, I spoke during the Third Reading of the Crime & Policing Bill, the stage when MPs propose amendments to legislation. My New Clause 107 would have required a proper equality impact assessment of new policing powers. 

We have a situation where successive governments have sought to increase the reach and scope of police powers. If we are handing more power to the police and the state, I believe this must come with more transparency, more accountability and more scrutiny. An equality impact assessment would at least show the real world impact this is having on communities who have already lost trust in policing.

I also spoke in favour of several other amendments to this bill, which would have protected the right to protest, reviewed discriminatory and outdated joint enterprise protections and ensured better guardrails for the use of predictive policing, facial recognition and AI by the state.