THE justice secretary hit out at "misleading" information about a controversial crime bill.

A new piece of government legislation prompted protests from people who fear it will give police more power to clamp down on peaceful demonstrations if they could be considered a public nuisance.

But South Swindon MP Robert Buckland said that this is not quite the case and argued that the new law would not restrict freedom of expression and includes sensible changes to existing rules.

He said: "There is a lot of misleading information being spread about reforms to the law of public nuisance and protests contained as part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill that I introduced recently.

"Those who are organising opposition to this bill either haven’t read it or are choosing to manufacture artificial arguments against it.

"As I explained to the Commons two weeks ago, when it comes to the law of public nuisance, we are simply enacting recommendations made by the independent Law Commission that the existing common law of nuisance be codified and clarified.

"The current maximum sentence for an offence of causing public nuisance is unlimited - we will limit it to a maximum of ten years.

"Much is being made of the use of the phrase “serious annoyance” in the bill as if it was some new departure. This is wholly incorrect. This word has appeared in descriptions of the law for several centuries.

"When this bill is passed, which will take months, the law will be clear and easier to use.

"As for protests themselves, it is already the case that when it comes to marches and moving protests, the police should be informed about their duration and other details in order to help reduce disruption to other members of the public.

"This doesn’t currently apply to static protests, which often result in huge disruption and inconvenience to people going about their daily tasks and our emergency services too.

"The right to freedom of expression is unaffected by these sensible and practical changes. In fact, the rights of the vast majority of the British public to go about their ordinary business will be protected too."