Hancock says ‘only necessary’ Covid powers will be kepton March 25, 2021 at 3:52 pm

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has urged MPs to extend “essential” emergency coronavirus powers but said some of the rules could be suspended.

Mr Hancock said regulations governing the social care sector were among the measures being scrapped because of progress in dealing with the virus.

MPs will vote later to extend the Coronavirus Act until the autumn.

Some Conservatives says the powers are “out of step” with the lockdown easing.

A group of lockdown sceptic Tory MPs is calling for a suspension of the rules.

The Coronavirus Act came in to force in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic with ministers pledging to use the measures “when strictly necessary”.

The law gave the government wide-ranging powers unlike others seen before – from shutting down pubs, through to detaining individuals deemed at risk as part of efforts to contain the spread of the virus.

MPs are being asked to extend it until the end of September as well as voting on England’s roadmap out of lockdown and the continuation of virtual proceedings in the Commons.

Opening the debate the health secretary said the legislation had been a “crucial part” of the government’s response to the virus, enabling ministers to bring forward measures such as furlough and statutory sick pay for those self-isolating.

But he said 12 provisions in the legislation were no longer needed because of progress that had been made in dealing with the virus.

These include easing some responsibilities on the social care sector, laws governing the retention of biometric data for health and security purposes, and obligations on businesses that work in the food supply chain.

Mr Hancock acknowledged some people were concerned about the powers contained in the act.

He said: “Although this act remains essential and there are elements of it which we are seeking the renewal of, we have always said we will only retain powers as long as they are necessary.”

But the senior Conservative, Charles Walker, said he did not believe this would be the last request for an extension.

“We will be back here in six months at the end of September being asked to renew this legislation again,” he said.

“It is inevitable and anyone who thinks it’s not inevitable is deluding themselves.”

The chairman of the 1922 committee of Conservative MPs, Sir Graham Brady, said he would be voting against because “it is important we make the case for a return to normality and trusting people with their own lives”.

He said: “These powers were given by Parliament to government last March as a very temporary set of extreme emergency measures. Nobody then envisaged that they would still be in place a year later, still be in use 18 months on.

“I think we need to be very cautious about the dangers of normalising what is actually a very extreme policy response.”

The deputy chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of lockdown sceptics, Conservative Steve Baker, said the vote was a “rare opportunity” for MPs to “say no to a new way of life in a checkpoint society”.

He said he was reassured by the prime minister’s comment at the Liaison Committee on Wednesday that “anything that is redundant will go”.

Labour says it will back the extension of the emergency powers but said its support was not offered “with any enthusiasm”.

The shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said: “Given the loss of life we have suffered and given the risks of mutations that could set us back, we must have zero tolerance to letting the virus rage unchecked.

“For that reason we do accept that restrictions have to stay in place and for that reason we support the renewal of the act and the public health regulations.”

The Liberal Democrat MP, Tim Farron, said his party would not back an extension.

He said the powers were “an over-reach” that the government “does not need” and he described them as a “default knee-jerk attempt to seek draconian powers” that he said “fit in to a pattern” of eroding civil liberties.

A government review into the possible use of coronavirus passports or status certificates to allow people to visit pubs and other venues is taking place under the plans to ease England’s lockdown.

The prime minister said there would be an update on the idea in April, and a review will report in June.

The leader of the Covid Recovery Group, Conservative Mark Harper, said the idea of vaccine certificates to enter pubs was “unconscionable” and raised “practical, moral and ethical issues”.

“We’ve asked young people to do a lot over the last year and I think the least we can do is to get the economy open, so that their futures are not damaged any further,” he said.

Speaking on a visit to west London, the prime minister rejected suggestions he was no longer concerned about protecting individual freedoms.

He said: “The libertarian in me is also trying to protect individual’s fundamental right to life and their ability to live their lives normally and the only way really to restore that for everybody, is for us to beat the disease.

“The best path to freedom is down the cautious but irreversible roadmap that we’ve set out. That’s what the freedom lover wants.”