May I make a controversial statement—that we live in a parliamentary democracy? As regards wearing face masks, I do not think that there will be time, because the order has not been laid, to have a debate. Surely the Leader of the House—indeed, the Government—in a matter as controversial as the enforced wearing of face masks from an increasingly authoritarian Executive, know that there should be a debate here and a vote. After all, this is highly controversial and everybody in the country has a view. Up to 70 million people will be affected by it. Lincolnshire has an infection rate of 150 in 150,000, so we have natural social distancing anyway. Why can we not just have more democracy and less authoritarianism from this Government?
Business of the House
Business question from
Edward Leigh
(Conservative)
in the House of Commons on Thursday, 16 July 2020.
It occurred during Business statement on Business of the House.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
678 c1694 
Session
2019-21
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2024-04-28 04:13:21 +0100
URI
http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Commons/2020-07-16/20071629000067
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