Tomorrow, Parliament is going to review the Government’s power. Back in March when ministers ordered total lockdown and the virus was surging, there was a strong sense in Parliament that we should give the Government the powers it needed to protect us, big powers that have never been used outside wartime. The Government asked for the powers for two years but Parliament said this was too long and insisted on reviewing them in six months, and that’s what we’re going to do.
The Government has used these powers to close businesses, even whole sectors of the economy, to confine us to our homes, to decree who we can meet up with and how long we can exercise for, to close schools and to order us to wear face masks. Behind closed doors, without even getting Parliament’s approval, ministers have made more than 50 new laws backed by fines of up to £10,000.After six months of seeing how this has worked, there is a strong feeling in Parliament that it’s not wise to leave the Government to do this on their own. We want a say. When it is making literally thousands of decisions, at unprecedented speed, Government is bound to get some things wrong and Parliament can help them do better.
For example there’s no right to challenge one of these £10,000 fines, even if there’s been a mistake. You can challenge a parking ticket or speeding fine, but not a Covid Fixed Penalty Notice. If Parliament had been able to look at this, I’m sure it would have put that safeguard in. The Government will ask Parliament tomorrow for a straightforward continuation of all their powers, but MPs from all parties have said they want changes. Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs, has put forward an amendment to the Government motion saying that Parliament must agree any new law before it comes into effect.
The Joint Committee on Human Rights, which I chair, is saying the Government can bring in new laws right away but that the powers would lapse if Parliament hadn’t approved them within seven days. But although there are different versions, there is a single will in the Commons that Parliament must have a say. It’s rumoured that the Speaker won’t let us vote on our amendments. But even if there’s no vote, it’s obvious that Parliament has had enough and the Government would be unwise to ignore that. They’ve got enough problems to deal with. Not just Covid but Brexit too. The last thing they should be doing is starting a fight with Parliament.
Harriet Harman is Labour MP for Camberwell and Peckham and a former Leader of the Commons