🚨Fixed Penalty Notices for indoor gatherings of over 15 people to be increased to £800 for attendance.

- Currently Fixed Penalty Notices for attending gatherings in breach of rules is maximum £200 (or £100 if you pay within 14 days)
This is wrong in BBC announcement - @ChrisMasonBBC

Current Fixed Penalty Notice for someone who "holds or is involved in the holding" of a gathering over over 30 people (not 15) is £10,000

See legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/1374…
As I have pointed out a few times, the £10,000 Fixed Penalty Notice 'mega fine' has always been a strange aspect of the regulations enforcement regime.

The Fixed Penalty Notice regime is a mess because there is no right of review or appeal. Police only need to "reasonably believe" an offence has been committed to give one out, but police (as seen many times) often don't understand the law themselves
Another curious aspect of this announcement is that police have no explicit power of entry under Coronavirus Regulations so not easy to enforce things which are happening inside private residences. Not impossible, but not easy.
However, I do think that if there is going to be focus on enforcement then large unlawful indoor gatherings (i.e. without reasonable excuse) should be it - as I have said many times recently - not exercise outdoors
I'm dubious that the report of people getting £10,000 for organising an unlawful gathering of over 15 people is right. But could be wrong.
Remember, this only applies to gatherings where there is no exception, e.g.:
- All from one household
- From 2 linked households
etc etc (these aren't all of them), they are here legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/1374…
Also, SAGE haven’t suggested ‘crackdowns’ are the way to encourage compliance. Entirely possible they do the opposite. But Home Office will Home Office

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More from @AdamWagner1

22 Jan
I’m afraid to say that this behaviour may have been triggered in part by bogus advice going round the ultra orthodox Jewish community about how to get round the Covid restrictions. I have tweeted about it before
I have tried repeatedly to communicate with Rabbi Teitelbaum (whose leaflet I understand has gone to thousands of homes) as I guessed his constituents are not my followers on Twitter. I achieved some success in a leaflet being amended but not enough sadly
Read 8 tweets
21 Jan
The fixed penalty notices are for more than 15 not ‘15+’🤦🏼‍♂️

And it’s not just for house parties, for any gathering over 15 (not 15+!) people 🤦🏼‍♂️
It has been pointed out to me, fairly, that there is another possible interpretation that if you attend with 15+ people (so there are 16+ people) you fall within the new rule. But the wording is ambiguous as it could be the *party* which has 15+
Read 4 tweets
19 Jan
Tonight's talk - not open access but will try to post a link to recording if I can
I'm told there will be a recording on YouTube
Have just been through my pinned Twitter thread to start putting together a basic timeline of the England lockdown. To be developed!
Read 4 tweets
19 Jan
🚨First set of amendments to the January lockdown regulations

The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (All Tiers) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2021

66th Covid-19 criminal law change since Feb 2020

legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/53/p…
A number of relatively minor amendments... basically mistakes/oversights cleaning up from the 6 January lockdown (see thread)

Summary:
- No more Christmas bubbles (obvs)
- Now clear you can leave home to go to a library for digital access
- Sports venues can open for elite sport competition (!)
- Marriage now explicitly covers equal marriage (!)
- Canteens in colleges or student halls can open
Read 13 tweets
18 Jan
Thank you for getting back to me.

Why would it not fall within volunteering or activities ancillary to voting? The literature included key dates to register to vote.

Perhaps more importantly, not for the police to enforce the ‘spirit of the legislation’ just what’s in it
I appreciate the police have a difficult job knowing what to do with this vague legislation but any political activity is protected by free speech rights and should not be limited by vague prohibitions (in fact if law is vague should be interpreted to protect speech not limit it)
Read 7 tweets
17 Jan
My goodness. Lord Sumption’s response to a woman with Stage 4 cancer asking why her life isn’t valuable is he didn’t say it isn’t valuable just “less valuable”. This is the figurehead of anti-lockdown movement - comes across as inhumane, almost grotesque
You can watch full debate below, it's actually really interesting. Lord Sumption robustly challenged. His key point seems to be about age. He says "it is absurd to say that the death of someone in their 80s is as tragic as someone in their 20s" (31:30) bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod…
Where there are scarce resources (e.g. donor organs) you do have to have these horrific debates about who get priority. But to use the argument that some people's live are "more valuable" to protect in the context of lockdown vs. no lockdown is I think extremely problematic
Read 7 tweets

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