Thread by @AdamWagner1

Still no sign of hotel quarantine regulations.

If tomorrow, no prospect of a parliamentary vote on them until *after* they are brought into force.

This is a law which will lead to the detention of potentially thousands of British adults and children - zero prior scrutiny.

This is a policy which has been on the cards not just for days, or weeks, but for months. Absolutely no justification for using the emergency procedure which requires "by reason of urgency, it is necessary to make the order without a draft being so laid and approved."

We currently only know the bare bones of the policy. We don't know key details:
- How will the charge work? Will it be means tested?
- What happens to disabled people who can't reasonably be detained?
- What about unaccompanied children?
- Who will guard hotels?

- What time will this come into effect? What happens if someone is travelling at that time?
- How will it be enforced? We have heard rumours of a 10 year sentence through an old act of parliament, how will that work?
- What deprivation of liberty safeguards in place?

I know I am a broken record on this but government by essay crisis is not good governance. It leads to mistakes, illiberal and unscrutinised policies, no proper debate, too much power for the executive. This isn't what the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act was designed for

Another issue:
- What happens to asylum seekers from 'red list' countries? Do they get quarantined if they can't afford? Or sent back as Matt Hancock seemed to suggest they should be (which would be illegal)?

I made this point in an article earlier this week unherd.com/2021/02/the-da…