Written by Mary Curran

 

 

I’m writing this in response to a comment by Flyer here which alarmed and puzzled some of us.

Regarding “Power to remove you from your home and your family and be forcibly vaccinated. Freeman, [7 Feb 2021 at 02:00:49]”:

I couldn’t find anything corroborating this but would be eager to hear from anyone who can. This is mentioned on this website. As far as I can see there is no evidence as yet that this is happening here in the UK.

Regarding the other draconian measures, many /all of these became law 16 months ago. We are all only too familiar with most of the effects of the Coronavirus Act, passed into law on 25th March 2020, with no debate or vote, giving the Government emergency powers.

And of Section 45 C (3) (c) Of The Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 giving ministers limitless powers to act in response to anything they perceive as a major threat to public health, which gives the legal basis for most of the regulations.

But most people seem to have forgotten or not noted some of its worst horrors to which Flyer has drawn to our attention, and which should not be forgotten but shouted from the rooftops; so here is a short summary to refresh memory…

I am certain that the Government intend to renew the Act again in September and doubtless forever if they can, as always ignoring all protests. We must not let these horrendous powers remain in place. They are totally disproportionate at present; furthermore, I maintain that they would never be justified under any circumstances because they would always be abused.

Particularly insidious are the extraordinary powers in Schedules 21 and 22 of the 2020 Act including:

  • Far-reaching emergency powers that will allow the police to detain and isolate people who may be infected and a danger to the public and force them to be tested
  • New rules speeding up the process of cremations.
  • Streamlining the death management process and funerals
  • Measures requiring only one doctor to sign off medical certificates confirming deaths and removing the need for inquests to be held with a jury.
  • People can be detained under mental health laws if one doctor rather than two deems that they are in need of urgent attention.

Section 97 of the Act requires the Health Secretary to report to Parliament on key provisions in the Coronavirus Act every two months. The seventh review was published on 27 May. These reviews are allegedly committed to discarding Provisions that are unnecessary and disproportionate so why are Schedules 21 and 22 still on the statute books? Schedule 21, which gives police, immigration officials, and public health officers the power to detain ‘potentially infectious’ people, has been used by police unlawfully many times to detain healthy and innocent people.

And schedule 22 is allegedly to deal with local outbreaks for which legislation already exists so why is it being retained?

Both Schedules have been used to unlawfully charge and prosecute dozens of people.

The Statutory Instruments, almost 500 of them, the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) Regulations 2020, were made under the Public Health Act1984 to enforce so-called “lockdown” restrictions. This was fraudulent as the spirit of the 1984 Act was to deal with infected individuals, not to quarantine the entire nation. The statutes might have been passed under the 2004 Civil Contingencies Act but Government chose not to do so, to avoid scrutiny.

Robin Tilbrook and others raised various legal challenges, which would surely have succeeded in a just world.

Big Brother Watch says that “only 6.5% of the Statutory Instruments are subject to the ‘draft affirmative’ procedure, meaning that they require approval from both Houses of Parliament before coming into force. Many of the most significant SIs, such as those which enacted lockdowns have been laid under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 – section 45R of which allows the Secretary of State to bypass Parliament, “by reason of urgency.” The result of this is a pandemic response almost entirely characterised by executive decision making – with Parliament and democracy side-lined at almost every step”.

Then the whole thing was designed to confuse; most people complied with “rules”/”laws”/ “regulations”/ “guidance”/ advice” which might be unlawful and ultra -vires,” just to be on the safe side”.

These statutes were not uniform across England, N Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, which added to the confusion.

The good news was that the first wave of convictions at least were all quashed thanks to Big Brother Watch and on their website, say “If you received a fine, whether you paid it or not, tell us in confidence”.

People are waking up now, and coming together. More doctors are speaking out; special mention to Dr Sam White.

As Flyer says we must keep up the momentum. Maybe learn a few lessons from the French? Even if there is another surge of Covid or flu or whatever other crisis they can wheel out, we must always remember that civil liberties are not negotiable especially with the kind of leaders that we currently have.

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