A massive coalition has formed to #KillTheBill

#KillTheBill Coalition logo and Priti Patel
Steve Topple


The Tories’ Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill has been in the public eye for weeks. Also known as the policing bill, it has caused protests up and down the UK. And now, a coalition of groups have come together and released a statement to try to #KillTheBill once and for all. And The Canary is proud to be a signatory.

A coalition to #KillTheBill

The Kill the Bill Coalition is made up of dozens of organisations who’ve come together to collectively oppose the bill. On Wednesday 31 March, the group released a statement.

It says that the bill:

is a dangerous and unnecessary piece of legislation that endangers the rights and safety of every single one of us… We stand united and reject attempts to divide our movement into “good” and “bad” protestors.

We must be clear: there is no version of this Bill that is tolerable.

The statement calls on more groups to join the coalition to #KillTheBill.

Dangerous times

It also outlines why the bill is so dangerous. The statement says it:

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  • “Intensifies police brutality against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, and criminalises their way of life”.
  • “gives the police the power to criminalise protests for being “noisy”, disruptive or “annoying””.
  • “Uses ‘protecting’ women as a cover to expand police powers and increase custodial sentences”.
  • “Expands stop and search powers, which… [police] already regularly used to harass and terrorise young black people”.
  • “Will silence the calls for justice by families of those whose loved ones have died at the hands of the police”.
  • “Makes those at the sharpest edge of state violence even more unsafe – including migrants, sex workers, disabled people, and racialised communities”.
Strength in diversity

A diverse range of groups have joined the coalition. These include Black Lives Matter UK, Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), Jewdas, Travellers Against Fascism, United Voices of the World Union (UVW), and Sisters Uncut. The Canary has also signed up to the coalition to #KillTheBill:

Kill the Bill Coalition Members

Some of the groups have already tweeted about it:

We must kill the bill

The statement concludes by saying:

The government’s current majority means that the Bill may pass through the halls of Parliament. That does not mean it will pass through the streets.

Just as many before us – in history as recent as the anti Poll Tax movement – we know that victories are won in the streets, in our communities and workplaces. People power has already got this bill delayed. It can also stop it being enforced.

It’s telling that such a broad range of groups have come together to fight back. The coalition shows the strength of feeling across society against the bill. Now, we all must continue opposing the bill. Moreover, as the coalition says, we must do this using “all the tools at our disposal”. So, we must unite and kill the bill, once and for all.

Read the coalition’s full statement:

Kill the Bill Coalition statement

Featured image via the Kill the Bill Coalition and the Telegraph – YouTube

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  • Show Comments

    1. Patel conveniently forgets that if not for the targeted actions of the Suffragettes she might not even have the vote let alone been able to enter politics, and if not for refugee rights groups her parents might not have been able to settle in this country.

      Like Thatcher, she made it after climbing on the shoulders of giants, so f*** everyone else.

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      1. I’m thinking the bill will pass as loyality rules the Tories. Patel really has the make up of a gangster from a 30’s movie. Home Secretary too, which says all about what ‘s coming down the tube.
        She appeals to the class of whose who rule temporarily, and I’m sure she will be rewared for sacrifices with money, social priviledges, and maybe a Peer.
        Its something in this day and age for what is in your mind rules however wrong.
        I had a friend who swore his lemons only diet was a wonderful cure. He ended losing his kidney over it as his prostate gland began shutting his body down.
        Even his father was a doctor on a WW11 cruiser.
        Belief is stroinger than the truth or your physical ability to look after yourself by listening Don’t listen to yourself or be true to your yourself, just obey the Boss. Its so common place to out of touch in the aslyum where black is ceertainly really blue and your up for a strenous debate about it..
        The reality all comes out in this Brexit Pudding which is becoming a financial disaster for the little people which means those with humilty.

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    2. I’d gladly support this movement against the bill, but it doesn’t apply in Scotland.
      Yet.
      How can we lend our support? I doubt our opinions will carry any weight with the present anti-Scottish Westminster administration?

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