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The government faces a challenge to the legality of the coronavirus blockade by a wealthy businessman who fears it will kill more people than it saves.
Simon Dolan, whose Jota Aviation company has been delivering personal protective equipment (PPE) to the NHS, has alerted the health secretary that he intends to issue procedures for a judicial review, unless the government reverses some of the measures. lock and restore freedom of movement
He is taking the action, which echoes that taken by Gina Miller over Brexit, arguing that the blockade was legally flawed and disproportionate in law. He is also looking for minutes of the Emergency Scientific Advisory Group (Sage) meetings this year, some of which involved Boris Johnson’s advisor Dominic Cummings.
“If it is not done [release the minutes] will result in a disclosure request if procedures should be issued, “says the” pre-action letter “that was sent to Matt Hancock.
Dolan, the author of a book titled How To Make Millions Without A College Degree ?, says he is not taking the case to lead the country into chaos, but to restore the public’s right to decide for themselves if they want to visit friends, go to work or stay at home, according to a crowdfunding page.
It has offered to “consider not issuing procedures if serious, alternative and less draconian restrictions are imposed.”
Her attorney, Michael Gardner, said the government had received until Thursday to respond to the letter. If a satisfactory response is not obtained, he will request an urgent court hearing in the same way that Miller did when he questioned the extension of parliament last year.
Dolan runs his leased airline business from Southend in Essex and employs about 600 people in 10 companies.
He said he had no political affiliation, but organized the action because he feared that the cure for coronavirus would be “worse than the disease,” with decreased cancer and chemotherapy referrals and up to 18,000 additional cancer deaths predicted, according to recent University College research. . London. Reports of domestic violence have increased, and police reported early signs of an increase in suicide and suicide attempts.
“The closure is telling us to stop living to avoid dying,” Dolan said. Imprisoning people in their homes is an extremely dramatic decision. It is unprecedented and it would have been a brave Boris to say “no, we are not going to do that”, but too much time has passed and we need to lift it or loosen it.
“Too many people are losing their jobs; people cannot receive cancer treatment, there is suicide, domestic violence. Why are we prevaricating? It is as if the government now maintains this to justify its original decision, while what they should do is say that we did this and now we are doing something different. “
Its action comes as pressure to relax the closings spreads across the world, with the most extreme examples in the United States, where firearms protesters entered the Michigan state building on Thursday.
“It is not storming town halls with weapons like in the United States, but the British have done their part, they have made their sacrifices, but life has to continue and it will be very difficult in the coming years,” Dolan said. He said the crowdfunding campaign was an attempt to test the British “backbone” as he was “surprised that no one else was doing something.”
A serial entrepreneur, Dolan, 50, of Essex, is worth £ 142 million, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. He dropped out of school at 16 after clashing with teachers and got his first break at 22, putting up a £ 10 ad in a local newspaper offering to do people’s math.
He started his own motorsports team, Jota Sport, in 2008 after his wife bought him a track day as a birthday present, and he now lives in Monaco.
Dolan’s lawyer said the challenge was based on three main points: first, that the blockade is “ultra vires“- out of legal authority – because it implemented regulations under the Public Health Act of 1984 instead of the Civil Contingencies Act of 2004 or the Emergency Coronavirus Act of 2020; second, that the government re-imposed the blockade on a “disproportionate” basis in the law, using a “too rigid” test regarding its effect on containing the disease but not its impact on the economy, employment and health in general, and third, that it violated the European convention on rights human rights encompassing the right to liberty, family life, education and property.
The Department of Health and Social Assistance has been contacted for comment.
