Lockdown powers extended
Coronavirus Act in place for six more months; road map to lift restrictions approved
We must restore the freedoms that we all cherish, but in a way that doesn't put the [National Health Service] at risk. Heath Secretary Matt Hancock
British lawmakers agreed yesterday to prolong coronavirus emergency measures for six months, allowing the Conservative government to keep its unprecedented powers to restrict UK citizens' everyday lives.
The House of Commons voted to extend the powers until September, and approved the government's road map for gradually easing Britain's strict coronavirus lockdown over the next three months.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson's large Conservative majority in Parliament guaranteed the measures passed by a decisive 484-76 margin. But Johnson faced rebellion from some of his own party's lawmakers, who argued the economic, democratic and human costs of the restrictions outweigh the benefits.
The Coronavirus Act, passed a year ago as Britain went into lockdown, brought in a wide range of temporary health, economic and social powers to deal with the pandemic. It gives authorities the power to bar protests, shut down businesses, restrict travel and detain people suspected of having the virus.
Heath Secretary Matt Hancock said Parliament had had to take “extraordinary measures in response to this extraordinary threat”.
But Conservative lawmaker Mark Harper, a leading lockdown sceptic, said he had not “heard a single good answer” as to why the British government needed to extend the “draconian” powers for another six months.
The opposition Liberal Democrats opposed the extension, with leader Ed Davey saying it gave ministers “a blank check to use draconian powers they don't need”.
Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn also spoke out against them, saying “our liberties are at stake”.
Britain has recorded more than 126,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest toll in Europe. But the UK's fastmoving vaccination programme has so far given at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine to more than half of its adult population, a far better record than in the European Union. Virus infections and deaths in Britain have fallen sharply in the past month as they are rising in much of Europe.
Simon Stevens, chief executive of the National Health Service in England, said yesterday English hospitals were treating about 4000 coronavirus patients, down from 34,000 in mid-January. He said the health system's coronavirus alert level should be lowered from 4 to 3 on a five-point scale because the pressures on the system had eased.
The British government is gradually lifting a national lockdown. Children returned to school on March 8 and shops, hairdressers and outdoor dining are to reopen on April 12, followed by indoor venues on May 17. Remaining restrictions are to end June 21, if the country is not facing a new virus surge.
Hancock said infections were likely to rise as society opened up, but thanks to vaccines that would not automatically mean more virusrelated deaths. But he said it was still right to proceed with caution.
“We must restore the freedoms that we all cherish, but in a way that doesn't put the [National Health Service] at risk,” he said.