| Notes |
Dr Robert Craig, an expert on constitutional law, provided a legal perspective: “Contrary to popular opinion, it was the Public Health Act 1984 that was actually used to enact the emergency secondary regulations in England & Wales, not the Coronavirus Act 2020 which was used only in Scotland. These emergency measures bypassed parliamentary processes and enabled Ministers to impose draconian public health measures without sufficient parliamentary scrutiny. It gave rise to the most momentous peace time ‘special restrictions’ on an individual’s liberty for centuries, and possibly ever. This raises very serious constitutional concerns.
“The Coronavirus Act may have expired, the 1984 Act has not. The mistaken decision to use the 1984 Act instead of the Civil Contingencies Act was incomprehensible. It is essential that the regime is amended to protect against similarly inappropriate use of the Public Health Act 1984 in the event of any future pandemic. In particular, it must be clarified that the 1984 Act should be confined to situations that are ‘minor in scope and effect’ and the CCA – with its far more robust accountability mechanisms - must be used for serious situations.” |