Letters | UK’s legal landscape shows the path Hong Kong is on

Readers discuss laws related to national security, protest and freedom of speech in the UK, and public concerns about security cameras

Reading Time:3 minutes

Police arrest a climate activist during the third day of climate change demonstrations by the Extinction Rebellion group, in Westminster, central London, on October 9, 2019. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:30am, 16 Feb 2024

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Your report, “Clarify Article 23 legislation to help reassure investors” (January 31), cites the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office as saying freedoms in Hong Kong had been “significantly eroded under the guise of national security” and that the new national security legislation in Hong Kong must align with “international standards” for human rights. I would like to remind readers of some of the Acts of Parliament the UK has made into law during the last few years.

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 empowers police to impose conditions on demonstrations so that they do not cause “alarm”, “distress” or “disruption”.

The Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 empowers the courts to limit challenges by UK citizens to the legality of, and redress for, the decisions and actions of the UK government and other public bodies.

The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 empowers the home secretary to revoke the British citizenship of anyone who was not born in the UK if this is judged to be for “the public good” or they are deemed to be a threat to national security.

The Public Order Act 2023 increases police powers to criminalise protest by searching for and seizing objects that could be used in a protest-related offence, as well as through issuing Serious Disruption Prevention Orders that restrict a person’s locations or association.

The Online Safety Act 2023 makes it a criminal offence, under Section 179, for a person to send a message that conveys information they “know to be false”. How such foreknowledge can be established or what defines such “misinformation” is not defined by the Act. But in Section 180, it is stated that recognised news publishers and broadcasting corporations “cannot commit an offence under Section 179”.