Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation and Linked Households) (England) Regulations 2020

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts

Thursday 7th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP) [V]]

My Lords, once again I congratulate Adam Wagner, the human rights barrister, on analysing and explaining all these coronavirus regulations. At the moment, he is perhaps the only person in the country who can make sense of this variety of regulations; he is doing a huge public service.

The tier system was meant to clear things up. It did at first, but now the situation is even more complicated. It is like a jigsaw puzzle but, however much we like jigsaw puzzles, I think we would probably prefer our facts clear and sharp. These regulations affect the life and liberty of every person in the UK; we really need to understand them properly. So do the police, who have to implement them. Instead of being presented with rules that are clear and obvious, we are being presented with a mess of snakes that we cannot untangle. It would be much more coherent if each new piece of legislation, instead of amending previous legislation, simply revoked all the regulations and introduced new ones. That would improve things because, instead of gathering up dozens of snippets and trying to omit or insert bits and bobs all over the place, we would just be able to read it very simply.

I have a particular question for the Minister. I had an email today from a Green Party city councillor in Lancaster, Tim Dant, who had had serious complaints from two local residents about the Government’s U-turn on the Pfizer vaccination programme. Both concerned people in their 80s who had the first dose of the vaccine and were going to have the second one but their appointment was cancelled. Both pointed out that the process of setting up and then cancelling must have been an expensive waste of precious resources, and they are now frustrated and confused about how vulnerable they are to being infected by Covid. Could the Minister please explain that to me?