Voting down the #CoronavirusAct would give the Government 21 days to propose a new framework that MPs can actually scrutinise & amend.
The current legislation gives the Government sweeping powers, without placing obligations on them to support the public.
Let's fix this. 1/8
Under Sec 98(1) if the #CoronavirusAct is voted down this leaves 21 days until its provisions expire.
After 6 months, we know what’s working and what isn’t.
21 days is enough time to put down new provisions with proper scrutiny. 2/8
Under the current Act, the Government has given itself extraordinary powers without accountability & set no provisions for those in need.
New economic packages are announced like gifts, when at a time like this support packages & relief measures should be the law. 3/8
Most #coronavirus regulations have been passed using the Public Health (Control of Diseases) Act 1984 (i.e. lockdowns) rather than the #CoronavirusAct
Important measures like #StatutorySickPay & removing barriers to retired NHS staff returning to work can be laid down. 4/8
The #CoronavirusAct weakens social care protections – allowing local authorities to apply “easements”, stripping away vital safeguards from those experiencing mental health problems, disabled people & older people – in other words, those most at risk during this pandemic. 5/8
A CPS review found that all 121 charges made under the notorious Schedule 21 of the Act were incorrectly charged because there was no evidence for arrests #CoronavirusAct
BAME people were 7 times more likely to be fined during #lockdown. 6/8
An equality impact assesment on the Act was finally published this Summer.
But we are yet to hear from the @EHRC as to whether it complies with equalities law #CoronavirusAct 7/8
Tomorrow, MPs are being given a binary vote: a simple 'yes' or 'no' on renewing the #CoronavirusAct
This leaves us unable to speak up for our constituents.
Let’s #VoteItDown and fix it to to see the UK through this pandemic and ensure that everyone is properly protected. 8/8
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Dear @AlistairMcInto7, I have had enough of your campaign of harassment. If it continues, I will be raising it with the Party and considering other steps to stop it. This kind of conduct is completely unbecoming of a local Labour branch secretary. 1/6
For years now, you have felt it acceptable to troll me in this persistent, excessive and thoughtless manner. As you are a member of my local Party and as someone who does not shy away from criticism, I have let you. But this cannot continue. 2/6
If you’re wondering why I haven’t immediately blocked you, which I fully intend to do, it’s because I want you to see and understand the full extent and scale of what you have done and continue to do. 3/6
The #RefugeeBanBill is a deplorable, illegal & unworkable attempt to rip up the human rights of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.
It comes from a Tory Government desperate to divide & distract us during an economic crisis exacerbated by their policies.
🧵
1/21
Instead of offering safe routes to sanctuary in the UK, the Government is attempting to ban asylum and human rights claims from people who have escaped some of the worst horrors in the world and forcibly remove them instead, with sweeping new detention powers pending this.
2/21
It flies in the face of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, drafted in the wake of the Holocaust: “refugees shall not be penalised solely by reason of unlawful entry or because, being in need of refuge and protection, they remain illegally in a country”.
When it was introduced in 1983, this fee was £35 - about £120 in today’s money.
The reason it’s so expensive is because the Home Office is skimming £640 off each application, raking in a staggering £102.7m profit between 2017-2020 alone.
I'll be voting against The Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill today.
This is the latest chapter in the attempt to wrest key scrutiny powers away from the judiciary, place British authorities beyond the law, and squash dissent.
A thread 👇🏾
1/8
This Bill would give legal sanction to a host of illegal actions - grave human rights breaches including murder, torture, sexual violence and a rafter of civil liberty violations. 2/8
To list a few covert operations & breaches: the shooting of lawyer Pat Finucaine in Northern Ireland, the SpyCops revelations of undercover officers having sexual relationships (and even children) with activist and the surveillance of left-wing MPs. 3/8