In June, Braverman used secondary legislation – which is subject to less parliamentary scrutiny – to allow police to restrict or shut down any protest that they believe could cause “more than minor disruption to the life of the community”.

A cross-party parliamentary committee said this is the first time secondary legislation has been used to make changes to the law that have already been rejected by Parliament. Akiko Hart, interim director of Liberty, which launched initial legal action in June and now has received permission from the High Court to sue the home secretary, described the move as “the latest power grab from this government", adding that “we all want to live in a society where our government respects the rules – but the home secretary has done the opposite.”