Labour under pressure to say whether it will ditch ‘chilling’ protest law after coronation arrests

Shadow minister said Scotland Yard appear to have been ‘heavy-handed’, but Rishi Sunak backs Met Police

Labour is under pressure to say whether it would scrap the Tories’ new anti-protest law – accused by other opposition parties of being “spineless” in the face of the “chilling” crackdown.

The Public Order Act has been thrust into the headlines after the arrest of republican campaigners before King Charles III’s coronation sparked widespread outrage.

Labour frontbencher Andrew Gwynne said on Monday that a Labour government would “look very carefully at this legislation” – arguing that “we need to see how it’s working”.