Coronavirus Act 2020: Temporary Provisions

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts

Monday 28th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

My Lords, it is always a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Dobbs. I did not particularly like his idea that people of my age ought to be locked away to save the rest, but we can discuss that later.

I welcome our two new Peers. If the noble Baroness, Lady Clark of Kilwinning, is going to be contentious on civil liberties, I will want to work with her very urgently. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Clarke of Nottingham, almost kept to the four minutes; he only went over by two and a quarter minutes, which is pretty good, but I am sure that the Whips will learn how to discipline him in future.

I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Dobbs, and other noble Lords that we face a democratic crisis. This is not only a health crisis; it is a human rights and civil liberties crisis too. In particular, I mention to the Minister Section 51 and Schedule 21—the coercive elements of the Act—which should be repealed. There is no doubt that they are now superfluous. They are no longer necessary, arguably were never necessary and certainly have never been used lawfully.

The Crown Prosecution Service took the unprecedented step of regularly reviewing every prosecution made under the Act. Not a single prosecution was lawful. People have been wrongly prosecuted and wrongly convicted under this rushed and chaotic legislation. This Minister has to agree that a law that results in 100% wrongful convictions should be repealed immediately. I hope that he will commit to that today.

Parliament passed this Act at lightning speed—I have some sympathy because we were in a crisis and had to react—as emergency legislation because, as the Government assured us, it was absolutely necessary and highly urgent to fight the virus. The Government produced a helpful Coronavirus Act assessment ahead of this debate. It goes through all of the Act and sets out which parts are in force, how they are being used and what justification is given for them continuing. No real justification is given for keeping the criminal parts of this Act, other than that they might come in handy if other enforcement does not work. This is nonsense, especially when the Government are imposing £10,000 fines on people who fail to self-isolate. There is absolutely no justification for these criminal parts of the Act any more.

On civil liberties and protest, the Government still have not addressed concerns about freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. This Act empowers the Government to ban any kind of gathering with no safeguard or protection for peaceful protest, which is part of our democracy. I know that this Government do not really like democracy because it means that they sometimes have to answer to the media and to us—with little and in a very pallid way—but, quite honestly, the Home Secretary’s blanket assertion that the Black Lives Matter protests were “illegal” was quite shocking. We are seeing some shocking things come out of this Government’s team. An election would be welcome if that is something the Government would find attractive.

I suggest that civil liberties, human rights and the right to peaceful protest, which is enshrined in our democratic processes, should be considered a little more than the Government are doing currently. I will vote for the regret Motion, of course. I very much regret that it is not tougher. It was a complete shock to agree with so much of what the noble Lord, Lord Robathan, said but, you know, well done.