My Lords, getting the (Amendment) (No. 2) and (Amendment) (No. 3) regulations is somewhat academic, since the (Amendment) (No. 4) regulations came into force at one minute past midnight last Monday morning. There are various illogicalities and serious constraints on human rights in all these regulations and I look forward to the fairly imminent report from the Joint Committee on Human Rights, of which I am a member.
Our Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee commented in its 19th and 24th reports on the problems caused by regulations being laid less than 12 hours before they came into effect. In the case of the (Amendment) (No. 4) regulations, they were published only about 12 minutes before they came into effect—at, as I say, one minute past midnight. Can the Minister confirm my understanding that they were laid only after they came into effect?
I welcome the fact that, finally, the guidance and the law coincide. I believe that the Government’s language in the last six months has created a lot of confusion,
including for the police. They have used the term “must” about both law and advice. I imagine this was because Mr Johnson was coy about the “nanny state”, but the obfuscation was very unhelpful. It would have been much better to say, “This is what you must do, because it is enforceable law, and this is what you should do, because it is your civic responsibility to show respect and care for your fellow citizens.”
It is my belief that the overwhelming majority of people would respond to such clarity by following both law and guidance if they diverge. Better, though, to bring the two together, which I believe the (Amendment) (No. 4) regulations finally do. Why has it taken six months for the Government to do that?
Lastly, I observe that, on the Tube in the last couple of weeks, I have observed almost 100% observance of the requirement for a face covering. I attribute this to the clarity of the requirement and to the fact that Londoners are law-abiding and care about their city. As internationalists and majority remainers, they were once labelled “citizens of nowhere” by a former Prime Minister. I am glad to say that Londoners have demonstrated that they are very much citizens of somewhere.
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