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Emergency Powers and Civil Liberties Report DEC 2020

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Emergency Powers and Civil Liberties Report DEC 2020 DEC 2020 - JAN 2021 @BIGBROTHERWATCH – EMERGENCY POWERS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES REPORT [DEC 2020 - JAN 2021] – bigbrotherwatch.org.uk @BigBrotherWatch About Big Brother Watch Big Brother Watch is a civil liberties and privacy campaigning organisation, fighting for a free future. We’re determined to reclaim our privacy and defend freedoms at this time of enormous change. We’re a fiercely independent, non-partisan and non-profit group who work to roll back the surveillance state and protect rights in parliament, the media or the courts if we have to. We publish unique investigations and pursue powerful public campaigns. We work relentlessly to inform, amplify and empower the public voice so we can collectively reclaim our privacy, defend our civil liberties and protect freedoms for the future. Contact Silkie Carlo Director Email: [email protected] Madeleine Stone Legal and Policy Officer Email: [email protected] Emergency Powers & Civil Liberties Report Published: 4th February 2021 Acknowledgements: With thanks to Sophia Turner for contributing research to this report. 2 Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 4 Recommendations ................................................................................................................... 6 Emergency Law ........................................................................................................................ 8 Health Protection Regulations ............................................................................................................ 9 Tier system 2.0 ............................................................................................................................... 9 Christmas ................................................................................................................................... 11 Lockdown 3.0 ............................................................................................................................... 12 Ending restrictions .................................................................................................................... 13 Role of Parliament ........................................................................................................................ 14 Ultra vires? .................................................................................................................................... 17 Accessible law .............................................................................................................................. 18 Tier system 2.0 .......................................................................................................................... 18 Lockdown 3.0 ............................................................................................................................ 20 Enforcement ................................................................................................................................. 21 Enforcing ‘the spirit of the law’ .................................................................................................. 22 Stop and account ...................................................................................................................... 23 Travel ........................................................................................................................................ 24 Travel between tiers .............................................................................................................. 24 Local area .............................................................................................................................. 25 Exercise .................................................................................................................................... 26 Gatherings................................................................................................................................. 29 Hospitality venues ..................................................................................................................... 30 Face coverings .......................................................................................................................... 33 Businesses ............................................................................................................................ 34 Fines ......................................................................................................................................... 36 Prosecutions ............................................................................................................................. 37 Divergence.................................................................................................................................... 38 Wales ........................................................................................................................................ 39 Scotland .................................................................................................................................... 40 Northern Ireland ........................................................................................................................ 41 Coronavirus Act ................................................................................................................................ 44 Freedom of Religion ............................................................................................................... 46 NHS and Palantir .................................................................................................................... 48 NHS Test and Trace ................................................................................................................ 51 Health Passports .................................................................................................................... 53 Commercial plans ......................................................................................................................... 56 Covid Marshals ...................................................................................................................... 57 Freedom of Expression ........................................................................................................... 59 Free speech online ....................................................................................................................... 59 Freedom of assembly ................................................................................................................... 61 Case studies ............................................................................................................................. 62 3 Introduction This report on the UK’s pandemic response covers the end of a year that saw the greatest loss of liberty in our country since World War II and a Christmas period unlike any other in our history. Barely a day after Parliament went on recess for Christmas, the Prime Minister delivered a decree he had vowed not to and had even described as ‘inhuman’ just days before – making it a criminal offence for millions of people to spend time with their families over Christmas. 20 million people were put under stay at home orders at the very last moment by another last-minute Ministerial diktat delivered via a press conference. Whether one views the restriction as necessary or not, the timing of its enforcement indicated incompetence at best, a cynical evasion of the democratic process at worst, and on some accounts a combination of the two. This is an unacceptable way to govern a democratic nation. The Prime Minister’s criminalisation of the most important family celebration of the year, reversing promises he made in the House of Commons the instant parliament rose, left him with barely a shred of democratic legitimacy. This reckless manner of rule-making over the minutiae of our family lives is incompatible with any reasonable notion of a democratic social contract. It is more characteristic of social control. Mr Johnson seems unmoved as he adopts the role of Britain’s most authoritarian Prime Minister in modern history. He has acquired form for announcing the most restrictive decrees at times that undermine or simply evade parliamentary scrutiny. The first national lockdown law in March was imposed one day after Parliament went on recess. The second national lockdown was announced to the nation, as though it were law, two days before Parliament returned from recess. Christmas was all but cancelled as soon as MPs left for the Christmas recess. And the Prime Minister welcomed the New Year by declaring the third and longest national lockdown in a televised address to the nation on 4th January – yet again, as though it were law, two days before Parliament returned from recess. The Prime Minister has now established a clear, determined pattern of abuse of urgent procedures and secondary legislation, trashing constitutional democratic norms and reducing the ‘mother of parliaments’ to what senior MPs have described as a mockery, a charade and a rubber-stamping exercise. Liberty, lives and livelihoods are being lost in this democratic void. Whilst MPs have had little to no meaningful impact on the management of the pandemic, there is no doubt they will share the responsibility for its dire consequences at the ballot box. Big Brother
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