Inclusive Society

Lord Beith Excerpts

Wednesday 14th April 2021 Grand Committee

[Lord Beith (LD)]

My Lords, this debate has rightly covered the range of inequalities, deprivations and disparities that have contributed to the vulnerabilities that Covid-19 has shown up. We have to address them, but we also have to recognise that an inclusive society must be an inclusive democracy in which people feel a sense of involvement and ownership in the decisions which affect their lives. Despite the emergency, freedom and civil rights should not disappear or be diminished. Their absence will make our society a more exclusive one—one that is enjoyed only by those who prosper when arbitrary power and centralised authority operate; that is something they will welcome.

In the time available I can mention only a few of the issues and dangers which this analysis raises. We need to remember that emergencies can take a lot longer than we expect—that has certainly happened in this case—and that there will be plenty more of them. Climate change may bring us floods, droughts or mass migration. Any of these would call for some kind of urgent action. So we need to review how we legislate for emergencies so that we learn from the mistakes of this episode. If we want our democracy to be genuinely inclusive, there are things we will have to curb.

One is lawmaking by ministerial decree without proper parliamentary scrutiny—a totally exclusive process. Another is confusion between what is law and what is advice, with the unacceptable pressure on police officers to enforce what is not law. Then there is government purchasing and contracting excluding those who do not have privileged access or the right contacts or email addresses; and treating local democratic institutions —local government—as an afterthought rather than involving them from the beginning.

There are the dangers that would emerge from a Covid passport if it became a document on which freedom depended in many circumstances, thus excluding a lot of people. There is also the inadequate legislative framework. It is interesting that in this crisis the Government did not use our emergency legislation—the Civil Contingencies Act—or even make much use of the Coronavirus Act, reverting instead to the Public Health Act 1984.

We all know some of the weaknesses that our democracy has. We should start now to prepare a legislative structure and general approach equal to the needs of an emergency on a basis that is inclusive, not exclusive, and recognises that freedom, constrained though it is when there is a risk of harm to others on a sound John Stuart Mill principle, remains the right of all our citizens.