Delighted that the amendments to the #CoronavirusBill promoted by @SarahLudford and me (on the provision of meaningful information to Parliament, and confirming full compliance with the Human Rights Act 1998) bore fruit this afternoon ... /1
... in the form not of changes to the Bill, which the timetable was never going to permit, but of positive ministerial statements by Earl Howe and Lord Bethell (Hansard, when it catches up, will be here hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2020-03-…). /2
On the need to give Parliament proper information, my speech is here hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2020-03-… and the Minister's response here parliamentlive.tv/event/index/71…. /3
The Minister committed the Government to providing "evidence and explanations to justify the conclusions set out in the 2-monthly reports": this goes well beyond the requirements of clause 97. Special thanks to @BinghamCentre for suggesting this point to me. /4
On human rights and equality, my short intervention (emphatically supported by Lord Falconer) is here parliamentlive.tv/event/index/71…, and the Minister's response is here parliamentlive.tv/event/index/71…. /5
He confirmed that our human rights laws, international and domestic, will continue to speak without derogation or curtailment through this emergency: "The HRA 1998 gives full effect to the rights and freedoms in the ECHR. Nothing in this Bill contradicts that." /6
It is good that the world should know that however strong our reaction to Covid-19, we have definitively not abandoned the rule of law. /7
These are small consolations in the context of a profoundly troubling (if necessary) Bill, but any gains are valuable in the circumstances. That's me done for a while - stay safe everyone. /8
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