Scathing Lords Report Criticises Government COVID Response.

[bindeweede]

The House of Lords has severely criticised how the Government has used emergency laws to curb the civil liberties of people during the Coronavirus pandemic, calling for an immediate review ahead of its promised public inquiry into the crisis.

“All governments should recognise that, however great or sudden an emergency may be, powers are lent, not granted, by the legislature to the executive, and such powers should be returned as swiftly and completely as possible, avoiding any spill over into permanence,” a report by the Lords Constitution Committee said. “Emergency legislation is never an acceptable alternative to effective government planning for periods of crisis.”

The report is particularly critical of how the Government relied on a 37-year-old law – the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 – to introduce the lockdowns in England, rather than the 2020 Coronavirus Act, which effectively avoided parliamentary scrutiny of the new restrictions.

https://bylinetimes.com/2021/06/15/unac ... -response/

[Tony.Williams]

“Emergency legislation is never an acceptable alternative to effective government planning for periods of crisis.”

Unfortunately, when dealing with democratic systems which regard anything beyond the next election as extremely long-term planning, I don't see the situation improving.