Peers back emergency powers to tackle coronavirus outbreak

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A military lorry is seen delivering a consignment of medical masks to St Thomas' hospital, London
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Ellena Cruse24 March 2020

Peers have backed emergency powers legislation which will help the NHS buy time to combat coronavirus.

The Bill, which has already cleared the Commons, gives ministers, councils, police, health professionals and coroners wide-ranging powers that are due to last for up to two years.

After a sombre five-hour debate, the Lords gave an unopposed second reading to the 348-page document.

The changes include reducing the number of doctors required to sign off on sectioning those with mental health issues from two to one, while police would be given authority to force those infected with Covid-19 to self-isolate.

The Lords have backed the bill at its second reading 
PA

Health minister Lord Bethell said: “Fundamentally this Bill is about buying time. Time can help us. With each day that passes, the science is getting better.

“Each day brings us closer to faster, more accurate testing capabilities and ultimately a vaccine.”

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He told peers: “Each day that we can slow the rate of transmission is a small victory that will lead us to the ultimate defeat of the virus.

“We need to buy time for the NHS, flattening the infection curve and raising the capacity line, moving the peak away from the most dangerous winter months.”

For the Opposition, Lord Falconer of Thoroton offered Labour’s full support for the emergency powers.

“In normal times it would be utterly unacceptable,” he said. “These are not normal times.

“As long as the emergency lasts and these powers are necessary, they should be available to the Government.”

Lord Falconer said there needed to be “immediate compliance by the public with the ‘stay at home’ message” imposed by the Government.

While supporting the Bill, Liberal Democrat leader in the Lords Lord Newby stressed the importance of Parliamentary scrutiny and warned against giving ministers a “blank cheque”.

Lord Newby said: “This is an unprecedented Bill to deal with an unprecedented crisis. Over the coming months, every aspect of the way we do things in Britain is going to come under strain.

“As in wartime, we will have to change the way we do things and when it’s all over things will not revert to business as usual.

“I am sure that everyone wishes the Government well as it grapples with coronavirus, but democracies never give the executive a blank cheque.”

The Bill will undergo detailed line-by-line scrutiny in the Lords on Wednesday before it is expected to become law later this week.

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