SUELLA BRAVERMAN’S bid to hand herself powers to apply for precautionary injunctions to crack down on protests are “Orwellian, anti-freedom and anti-democratic,” MPs warned yesterday.

Opposition politicians raised the alarm yesterday afternoon over the Home Secretary’s last-minute amendment to her Public Order Bill, which was passed the final stages in the Commons.

The proposal gives secretaries of state the power for the first time to apply for injunctions against anyone who might carry out a protest that could cause “serious disruption” to key infrastructure, prevent access to “essential” goods or services or have a “serious adverse effect on public safety.”