Interesting development - and it leaves the Home Secretary @YvetteCooperMP with an important early decision to make. This case is about the regulations which lowered the threshold over which the police can impose conditions on processions and assemblies to any activities which may prevent or hinder day-to-day activities in a way that is more than minor. The regulations were found to be unlawful by the High Court earlier this year, though they have not yet been struck down, pending this appeal. (judiciary.uk/wp-content/uplo…) The government's appeal was due to start tomorrow. It has now been postponed on the government's request. Are they going to drop the appeal? I suspect that they will have received advice from the new law officers that they are unlikely to succeed in the appeal. If they do drop it, the Home Secretary will no doubt be accused by the right wing press of siding with disruptive environmental protesters. Another way of looking at it is that the police powers to impose conditions are already wide (they have recently been supplemented by a 2022 law which hasn't been (and couldn't be) struck down), so these additional powers are unnecessary. If the Home Secretary really wanted to be seen to be tough on protest, the government could use primary legislation to bring the powers in which was the original intention of the previous government but that was defeated in the Lords for procedural (not really substantive) reasons. But do they really want to spend legislative energy on such a path, replicating the previous government's approach? Sir Keir Starmer acted for protesters in many of the important protest rights cases of the last few decades. Does he want his Home Secretary to take an active decision to further limit protest rights? Watch this space!