ANTI-PROTEST laws are threatening the future of the Durham Miners’ Gala, Labour MP Ian Lavery has warned, as Europe’s biggest annual commemoration of workers' struggles got ready to welcome up to 200,000 visitors this weekend.

The former Labour chairman said the 151-year-old celebration of the labour movement “takes place in the midst of a battle against a wave of draconian legislation.”

Writing in Saturday's Morning Star, he argued it “is no exaggeration to ask how much longer the Gala itself ... will be permitted under this new legislation which seeks to purge any dissident voices.”

National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) general secretary Chris Kitchen warned it “would be catastrophic” if future galas were prevented by new measures under the Public Order Act.

Parliament passed secondary legislation last month that empowered police to stop protests they believe “may” cause “more than minor” disruption.  

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said “mayhem” was being caused on the streets and the Met Police bragged about using the powers to clear Just Stop Oil street protests within minutes.

The government is now trying to push through further legislation that would allow police to be able to pre-emptively shut down a protest even where disruption has not been caused.

Mr Lavery said: “While I look forward to a more relaxing weekend of meeting and catching up with friends new and old, this year’s gala takes place in the midst of a battle against a wave of draconian legislation that seeks to impose restrictions on our fundamental rights to protest, boycott, collectively bargain, and vote in free elections.

“It is no exaggeration to ask how much longer the Gala itself, with its long history of political agitation often at odds with powerful economic and political interest in this country, will be permitted under this new legislation which seeks to purge any dissident voices willing to stand up for ordinary people.”

Mr Kitchen told the Star: “You can quite easily see how they would be able to use that law if the powers that be decided to. I’m erring on the side of common sense and decency that they wouldn’t.”

Asked if doing so would risk a repeat of the Orgreave scandal, he said: “It would be catastrophic.”

Thousands of striking miners and police officers clashed in one of the most violent clashes in British industrial history at Orgreave coking plant near Rotherham in June 1984.

He added: “If policing has moved on ... it makes you wonder then why the need for the law.

“I can’t see Just Stop Oil getting as many numbers on a picket line, why do they need this law? There doesn't seem to be a legitimate peacekeeping rationale for it, it’s more authoritarianism to stifle any opposition.”

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “We at PCS wholeheartedly deplore this government’s cynical efforts to strip away workers’ rights and to shackle the democratic right to protest. It is an outrage that we in the UK are set to have worse workers’ rights than any EU member.”

A spokesman for Just Stop Oil told the Star: “They know that when we come together in resistance, on the streets, or on picket lines, we are so much more powerful than them.

“It is time to be brave and step into resistance, in whatever way we can, regardless of their threats.”

National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Public Order and Public Safety, Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington, said: “Each event or protest will be assessed on its particular circumstances, but policing decision-making must be consistent, fair, proportionate, and ultimately accountable to the law.

“That assessment does not include the cause or issue for the protest — all groups or causes are treated impartially.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak will vow at today’s gala to fight the Conservatives’ attack on the right to strike under the Minimum Services Bill.