The government is set to make climbing on Winston Churchill's statue in Parliament Square a criminal offence, with offenders facing up to three months in prison and a £1,000 fine.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper plans to add Churchill's monument to a list of protected statues and memorials under the Crime and Policing Bill currently progressing through Parliament.
The new law would also protect the Cenotaph in Whitehall and other war memorials across Britain.
However, top barrister Steven Bartlett has blasted the new law as "misleading" and "total tosh" during an appearance on GB News.
Steven Bartlett hit out at Labour's plan to criminalise climbing on Winston Churchill's statue
GB NEWS / PA
"I'm afraid the government is starting to mislead the public with announcements like this," Bartlett said.
"It's 2025. We live in a highly developed legal system. We almost certainly don't need any new crimes. We have been inventing new crimes at rapid pace since the 1990s."
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Winston Churchill's statue has proven to be contentiousPABartlett argued that existing laws are sufficient to prosecute those who climb on memorials, but claimed police enforcement is inconsistent.
"The idea that this was lawful to begin with - I reject. The Government has allowed the police to become performatively weak and performatively pathetic," he stated.
He cited an example of protesters climbing on the Waterloo memorial, where police merely had "a nice little chat" with them despite potential criminal damage charges being applicable.
Bartlett compared the treatment of protesters to that of Lucy Connolly, who "still languishes in prison".
Steven Bartlett joined Martin Daubney on GB News
GB NEWS
"Many of your listeners and viewers will remember the chap who swung on the Cenotaph. He went to prison for 14 months and served four months and came back to Cambridge and finished his degree," Bartlett said.
"Does anyone think the same thing will happen to Lucy Connolly? We've already got two-tier justice which they like to dismiss as some sort of right-wing conspiracy theory."
Churchill's statue has been a frequent target for demonstrators in recent years. During Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, it was sprayed with graffiti and had to be boarded up.
Most recently, trans rights campaigners climbed the statue while protesting in Parliament Square in April.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has backed the new protections, saying: "Sir Winston Churchill stands at the summit of our country's greatest heroes."
Cooper defended the new law, saying: "As the country comes together to celebrate VE Day, it is only right that we ensure Winston Churchill's statue is treated with the respect it deserves."
But Bartlett maintains the UK's legal system already has sufficient tools to address such offences.
His criticism highlights a growing debate about whether new legislation is necessary or if better enforcement of existing laws would be more effective.
