The practice, where the threat of disproportionate and escalating legal action is used to silence people, has been a crime in where it is used against companies since 2024, but is still not banned against individuals.
Oldham Lib Dem group leader Sam Al-Hamdani said: “SLAPPs are nothing less than organised, industrial-scale bullying. They are often used against people with no experience of the legal system, and no money to hire the kind of very expensive legal help that is needed to fight them.
“Unfortunately, I have seen this in action. I have seen people reduced to tears and panic attacks at the thought of them losing their properties, the fear that their lives will be ruined by extraordinarily expensive – and completely unjustified – legal action.”
The Liberal Democrats have now committed to banning the practice. While proposals to do this have been brought forward in the last few years, none have made it into law. Councillor Al-Hamdani is also working with the Anti-SLAPP coalition, a national pressure group, to help end the practice.
Councillor Al-Hamdani added: “It is easy to think that this is some kind of obscure practice that happens in company boardrooms. Sadly, I have seen local people who were just trying to protect their community on the receiving end of this.
“This should simply not be acceptable in our society. It is the rich using their knowledge of the legal system to bully people out of their rights. Ending this is exactly the sort of thing I got into politics to prevent. This takes it one step nearer.”
