Big Brother Watch has issued a report detailing major shortcomings in adoption and implementation of the Coronavirus Act 2020 and Health Protection Regulations 2020 in the United Kingdom. The report draws attention to the lack of clarity and guidance on the legal norms granting exceedingly wide powers to ministers and law-enforcement authorities.
The main findings after review of the first month of emergency powers in the United Kingdom include:
a new case of a teen wrongly convicted under Coronavirus Act and under powers for the wrong country
a “postcode lottery of pandemic law” as forces deliver “inconsistent, heavy-handed and sometimes incompetent” policing
suspension of freedom of information relating to coronavirus policing
new curbs on free speech online
growing use of drones, ANPR, location tracking and “a surveillance state in the UK of a scale never seen before”.
We publish information as it is reported to us. If you would like to make us aware of an inaccuracy or send us more information please email us at [email protected]
If you are a journalist interested in this story, please call the media team on +44 (0) 7749 785 932 or email [email protected]