“Loophole” is never a helpful phrase. The point is that (in tier 2) you can “gather” indoors (and having lunch together with people outside your household is gathering) if it is “reasonably necessary for work purposes” (and some other purposes).
See
I don’t see that it is right to say that *any* business lunch is covered. It has to be “reasonably necessary” for work purposes. That means there as to be a pretty good reason why the business couldn’t sensibly be done on a Zoom call.
That said, it’s hard to see how in practice the “reasonably necessary” condition is going to be enforced.
Once the “work purposes” claim is made, and it’s established that there is a genuine business relationship, seeing if the lunch was “reasonably necessary” would need an inquiry into the nature of the business and relationship which is likely to be too complex to be bothered with.
But it’s another example of a divergence between (a) what the rules actually say and (b) what Ministers say the rules are which isn’t helpful to compliance and respect for the law.

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More from @GeorgePeretzQC

22 Oct
Thread. As he says, progress on subsidy control/level playing field will come only when the principals get involved.
On that issue, this by @DavidGHFrost is meaningless. The live question is what kind of 🇬🇧 subsidy regime the “independent and sovereign” UK is prepared to agree to.
As so often, Tony gets it right: this is what Johnson will need to accept.
Read 4 tweets
21 Oct
I’m old enough to remember an occasion where a certain Conservative candidate for Mayor of London in 2008 won election on the basis of a promise to scrap a relatively modest extension of the congestion charge into west London. theguardian.com/politics/2008/…
On scrapping it, he said: “In doing we can offer hope to hard pressed businesses when they most needed but also we have shown Londoners that when they speak we will listen. The people of London have spoken. We have listened. In the words of General de Gaulle 'Je vous ai compris'”
Read 5 tweets
19 Oct
The first sentence is (subject to (b) below) correct: Article 12(1) of the Protocol. But the second is false, because (a) EU officials have the right the EU is seeking (Article 12(2) of the Protocol) and
(b) Article 12(1) is “without prejudice to [Article 12(4)]”, which gives EU bodies in the UK the powers as regards the Protocol that they have in the EU under EU law.
So Moylan’s third sentence is also incorrect: the answer is “yes”.
Read 4 tweets
19 Oct
This is very good indeed. A couple of comments (with the odd excursion into subsidy policy, as that’s my hobby).
1. I’m pretty sure Edgerton isn’t saying this, but there’s a danger of looking back at 1950s-1970s corporatism (subsidies/weak competition policy) with rose-tinted spectacles. The British state wasn’t much good at it: the Tories and then Labour abandoned it for good reasons.
2. But I think he is on the nail in pointing out the deep lack of capacity now of the British state. That is one reason why I don’t think a “trust us to be competent” (or even “trust us to be honest”) approach to subsidy policy is sustainable.
Read 9 tweets
19 Oct
This essay on judicial review, democracy, and the Left is now online at @thefabians website. fabians.org.uk/wp-content/upl…, from page 23.
One of the points made is along the lines of my recent thread here: it’s that the alleged tension between effective government and judicial review/human rights protection is illusory.
The vision of the state that is at the heart of the social democratic/Fabian tradition is a state that provides people with the services and support that they need in order to flourish. Such a state needs to be effective.
Read 6 tweets
18 Oct
I looked at this piece by @michaelgove in an effort to understand what it is that prevents the current government from agreeing a free trade agreement with the EU. thetimes.co.uk/article/michae…
I find this as “explanation”.
What are these “restrictions” and “arrangements that tie our hands indefinitely” that we are being asked to sign up to? Oddly, given that we are asked to be shocked and outraged, no details are provided.
Read 12 tweets

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