Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021

Lord Campbell-Savours Excerpts

Tuesday 20th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I greatly welcome this debate and the tabling by my noble friend of her very relevant amendment. According to the Explanatory Note, the regulations provide that for,

“the purposes of preventing, detecting and controlling the spread of infection, registered persons … must secure that a person … does not enter the premises used by A unless B meets specific requirements”,

which are then set out. However, the list of requirements excludes the crucial requirement that is now the subject of a national debate: the wearing of masks. The regulations appear to put in place a non-statutory framework governing mask use, thereby relying on a voluntary approach under guidance notes. Guidance notes will not work. They will be widely ignored, perhaps even in care homes to some extent.

In anticipation of liberation day, there already has been widespread non-compliance in wider society. We are ignoring at our peril the experience of countries worldwide where the real benefit of mandatory masking under properly enforced regimes has been at the heart of policy, not only in care homes but in wider social interactions. Masking crucially helps to alert the public to the real dangers of the virus.

If, as I suspect, and for reasons that I understand, the Government remain torn, they should put the wider question of masking in its broader application to the House of Commons. Let MPs take that decision this week before the House rises. Let them face up to their responsibilities. They will have to listen to a divided public while arguing their case. The whole issue could then be decided on a free vote. It is not unprecedented. An informed decision on masking cannot be ducked and if the Government themselves are uneasy over the decision, Parliament, where I believe there is majority support, must take it.

Mandatory masking is absolutely crucial in the building of public confidence in the Government’s wider Covid relaxation strategy. I am convinced that the alternative is increased Covid hospitalisation as a more liberalised regime leads inevitably to disease spread, cancelled operations in the NHS, a lack of confidence in public protection leading to increased workplace absences, further damage to the high street with the possibility of renewed restrictions, public anger over government vacillation, further deterioration in the public finances and a prolonged epidemic.

The mask is a signal, an alarm bell and constant reminder. It acts as an amber light and is the only way in which one can signal to the public the danger of infection and the scale of personal risk—the risk from onward transmission to colleagues and friends, and the need to be constantly on the alert. The moment that one drops the requirement for a mask, the public will act defensively by withdrawing from public engagement, whether at the place of work or socially, or they will mistakenly conclude that the problem is past and life is returning to normal, which it is not. That is my fear.

Liberation day is potentially opening the door on a disaster and I cannot understand why those who oppose lockdown but who are calling for an early return to normality cannot support mandatory masking. It helps their case and would facilitate the early return for which they yearn. It secures a wider form of individual freedom. I say to the Government that they need to get real and take the lead. The public are looking to the Government to show the way. Either take a big decision to maintain masking or let the Commons take it on a free vote.

Do not get bogged down in misinterpretation of what constitutes liberty. Your liberty should not be at the cost of my liberty that dropping the guard in care homes will soon expose. If, as an individual citizen, I have to lock myself away and lose my freedom as a consequence of you securing your freedom, we then need arbitration. Care homes, offices, shops, public transport and, indeed, all public places are similarly at risk and threatened by this new approach. I plead with the Government, even at this late stage, for sanity in the policy that they are pursuing. Please do not make this grave mistake.