House of Lords inflicts string of defeats to government over protest crackdown measures

The House of Lords has inflicted a string of defeats to the government over protest crackdown measures.

Peers have voted against new powers that would have allowed police to stop and search anyone at a demonstration "without suspicion" for items used to prevent a person from being moved.

In a separate defeat, the unelected chamber also backed restricting the imposition of tougher sentences for blocking a highway to major routes and motorways, rather than all roads.

The Lords also defeated a number of other controversial curbs on demonstrations that were proposed in the bill.

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