Emergency powers are needed to protect public health. However, authorities need to use them in a transparent, proportionate and lawful way, to protect our democracy in the long run.
Right now we’ve just experienced a huge loss of liberty in this country. Silkie Carlo, Director of Big Brother Watch said:
“These are eye-watering powers that would have not been really imaginable in peacetime in this country before,
“(Britain will) swing from crisis to crisis, health panic to health panic, and then find that we’ve lost.
“We risk easily finding ourselves in a perpetual state of emergency.”
New York Times — For Autocrats, and Others, Coronavirus Is a Chance to Grab Even More Power
Morning Star — Gloucestershire police ‘gallivant’ on quad bikes to disperse walkers
Byline Times — ‘Global Surveillance in Response to COVID-19 Surpassing 9/11’