"Keir Starmer is now using parliament as a personal shield to stop the people from choosing who governs them." -Nigel Farage
UNL: Keir Starmer, the "man of integrity," has been dragged into court after using government power to block Reform UK from expanding its political influence. The English Devolution Bill, a bill that was supposed to hand power back to the people, is now being exposed as the greatest centralisation power grab in decades.
Grassroots anger is boiling over as Labour-aligned mayors and councils are handed unprecedented power under Starmer's bill, while Reform UK candidates are shut out, elections are being delayed, and local voices are being silenced.
A coalition of civil liberties groups, local councillors, and Reform UK candidates have taken the matter to court, filing a legal challenge that accuses the Labour government of violating constitutional norms, electoral fairness, and the principles of democracy itself. If the judges rule against Starmer, it could be the moment his premiership unravels. The bill abolishes hundreds of local councils, merges them into single-tier authorities, and hands unprecedented power to regional mayors — many of whom are staunch Labour allies.
The backlash is nuclear, with angry voters marching, councillors resigning, and local media sounding the alarm. In places like Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, and Kent, where Farage's party seized control, new "governance reviews" have frozen councils from functioning, under the guise of ensuring "compliance with new devolution standards." Labour is scrambling to defend itself, claiming the reforms are "long overdue" and that opposition parties are "misinterpreting" the bill.
This court case could be the breaking point for not just the Devolution Bill, but also for Keir Starmer's entire credibility as a democratic leader.
The UK government has lost its appeal against a High Court decision that ruled Suella Braverman's anti-protest law unlawful. The law, introduced during Braverman's tenure as Home Secretary, allowed police to shut down protests causing "more than minor" disruption. The Court of Appeal upheld the earlier judgment, which was praised by Liberty, a civil rights organization. The law was introduced in June 2023 without a parliamentary vote and lowered the bar for police intervention in protests. The High Court sided with Liberty in May 2024, agreeing that Braverman's move was not lawful. Liberty argued that Braverman bypassed parliamentary scrutiny by using secondary legislation, which doesn't undergo the same level of oversight as primary laws. The Court of Appeal confirmed that the term "serious" disruption carries a high threshold and cannot logically be interpreted to include anything that is just "more than minor." The ruling is seen as a significant legal win for Parliament and the rule of law, as protest is a vital democratic right. The UK is undergoing an unprecedented crackdown on protest rights, with the Police Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act and the Public Order Act criminalizing hundreds of demonstrators, particularly Palestine and climate activists.
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