[ad_1]
Conservative MPs, upset by the government’s sweeping lockdown measures, are plotting a rebellion when emergency Covid legislation is renewed this month, spearheaded by party great Sir Graham Brady.
Many conservatives have publicly expressed frustration over some aspects of the restrictions. Some are also concerned that the emergency law passed six months ago leaves too much power in the hands of ministers.
There is also irritation over the announcement of the policy at nightly briefings to journalists rather than in the House of Commons. Lindsay Hoyle, the spokeswoman for the Commons, recently threatened to make health secretary Matt Hancock “bankrupt” if he persisted in making announcements to the press rather than to MPs.
Brady told the Sunday Telegraph: “In March, parliament gave the government broad emergency powers at a time when parliament was about to go into recess and there was a realistic concern that the NHS’s capacity for attention could be overwhelmed by the Covid-19.
“We now know that the NHS coped well with the challenge of the virus and Parliament has largely been meeting since April. Now there is no justification for ministers to rule with emergency powers without reference to normal democratic processes.
“It is essential that all these decisions of enormous importance for family life, which affect people’s jobs and businesses, are carried out with proper supervision and control.”
Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Conservative MPs Committee, plans to try to amend the legislation to allow a parliamentary vote whenever new emergency powers are used or restrictions are introduced.
His intervention is a sign of the scale of concern among Boris Johnson’s advocates about the way he is handling the pandemic.
Some Tory MPs, like Desmond Swayne of the New Forest West, worry that the government’s restrictions are too draconian. Swayne has complained that rules were imposed on face covering without “the legitimate democratic right to ask him otherwise and vote on it in parliament.”
Others have expressed doubts about the “rule of six”, although government sources said this was imposed through a pre-existing public health law without requiring powers in the coronavirus law.
The six-month review of the Covid-19 legislation was agreed to by the government in March amid pressure from Labor and some secondary conservatives. The law contained a wide range of powers, from allowing ministers to limit the size of social gatherings to allowing funeral directors to record deaths where family members could not.
It is unclear whether the Labor Party plans to support the full renewal of the legislation or back the Brady amendment.
