By Ben Kerrigan-
British Mps today voted to renew coronavirus sweeping powers for another six months, until September.
The vote was met by a rebellion of 35 Conservatives, who objected to the renewal of sweeping powers to respond to the pandemic.
Critics from the Tories who voted against the government have long been against lockdown practices.
The scope afforded to the government under those powers are troubling for Johnson’s critics, who distrust the manner in which the British government in using the powers appropriately.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the powers would only be used where necessary.
He told the Commons: “Although this Act remains essential and there are elements of it which we are seeking the renewal of, we’ve always said that we would only retain powers as long as they are necessary.
“They are exceptional powers and they are approved by this House for the use in the most extremis situations and must be seen in this light.
“And because of the progress we have made, we are now able to expire and suspend a whole raft of measures within this Act, just as we expired provisions after the last review six months ago.”
The Health Secretary was challenged over whether emergency measures contained within the Coronavirus Act 2020 will still be needed in six months given Boris Johnson’s road map to lift all restrictions in England from June 21.
Mr Hancock said he “cannot answer” whether the Government will be “retiring” the legislation in October or whether it will be rolled on
The British public have faced three lockdowns, all preceded by false promises of a return to normality-denting the necessary trust in the government in many circles.
For most of the public, the announcement of new strains of the virus has been seen as justifying the various lockdowns, but
An influential senior Tory backbencher who was among 35 of his party’s MPs to vote against extending emergency coronavirus laws this afternoon says we need to find “ways of living sensibly” with Covid in future winters, as more lockdowns are not the answer.
Sir Graham Brady has spoken up strongly against lockdowns in the past, lambasting the deprivation of the British people’s liberty, to function normally in a society.
The veteran politician once suggested the laws amount to telling people when they can and cannot have sex.
After the vote, Mr. Brady told the Radio 4 programme there is a “fundamental question” stemming from the fact an endemic disease “might be coming back every winter for the foreseeable future”.
“If you are going to respond to say that the only reaction to that is to close down the country, to prevent people from seeing their families, to stop people from doing business and earning a living,” he says, “then I think that’s an apocalyptic vision that would definitely cause far more harm in terms both of deaths and mental health problems and economic devastation than the alternative.
“So I think it’s inevitable if we see this coming back in future years and future winters, which is entirely likely, we are going to have to find ways of living sensibly with a very nasty virus, which will include some restrictions.
“But I don’t think it’s plausible to suggest that lockdown is the answer to that.”
The bottom line is that the coronavirus 2020 Act has been extended until September, to allow the government vary or change the lockdown period as it sees fit, or any other restrictions in response to the data, as they say.
A worrying issue for critics, and indeed for most member of The Eye Of Media.Com, is how reliable that data is.
The government do have the task of increasing the credibility surrounding its actions.