Former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption blasts ‘coercive’ ministerial powers during lockdown and accuses Boris Johnson of ‘the most significant interference with personal freedom in the history of our country’
- Sumption accused ministers of keeping Britons ‘under a form of house arrest’
- He attacked control ministers had over everyday life in Cambridge law lecture
- Said measures went further than any previous curbs, even during wartime
A former Supreme Court judge blasted Boris Johnson’s coronavirus lockdown measures tonight, branding them ‘the most significant interference with personal freedom in the history of our country’
Lord Sumption accused ministers of keeping Britons ‘under a form of house arrest’ for three months in the spring under the original lockdown.
Giving a prestigious Cambridge University law lecture he attacked the control ministers had had over everyday life, saying they went further than any previous curbs, even during wartime.
The peer, a season critic of the lockdown, accused Mr Johnson and his Cabinet of acting by ministerial decree and sidelining MPs.
His concerns echo those of many MPs who have demanded more power to oversee Government coronavirus measures.
Tonight he gave a speech, Government by decree – Covid-19 and the Constitution, to the Cambridge Law faculty.
Speaking via Zoom from Milan he said: ‘During the Covid-19 pandemic the British state has exercised coercive powers over its citizens on a scale never previously attempted.
Lord Sumption accused ministers of keeping Britons ‘under a form of house arrest’ for three months in the spring under the original lockdown
The peer, a season critic of the lockdown, accused Mr Johnson and his Cabinet of acting by ministerial decree and sidelining MPs.
Speaking via Zoom from Milan Lord Sumption (pictured in 2016) said: ‘During the Covid-19 pandemic the British state has exercised coercive powers over its citizens on a scale never previously attempted’
‘This has taken effective legal control enforced by the police over the personal lives of the entire population, who they could meet, what they could do, even within their own homes.
‘For three months it placed everybody under a form of house arrest qualified only by their right to do a limit number of things approved by ministers
‘All of this has been authorised by ministerial decree with minimal parliamentary involvement.
He told the Cambridge Law Faculty that the use of coercion to try to quell the pandemic is unprecedented in British history, even in wartime, and that it runs against basic freedoms. A family is seen sitting down to watch Prime Minister Boris Johnson address the nation in March
It has been the most significant interference with personal freedom in the history of our country. We have never sought to do such a thing before, even in war-time and even when faced with health crises far more serious than this one.’
Lord Sumption, 71, who sat in the Supreme Court from 2012 until his retirement in 2018, has repeatedly warned that ministers have been exceeding their rightful powers.
But these criticisms while giving the Cambridge Freshfields annual law lecture are his strongest yet.
He added: ‘I do not doubt the seriousness of the epidemic but I believe that history will look back on the measures taken to contain it as a monument of collective hysteria and governmental folly.’
In another swipe at Mr Johnson, he drew a parallel with its attempt last year to prorogue parliament to force through Brexit legislation.
He said: ‘Governments hold power in Britain on the sufferance of the elected chamber of the legislature. Without that we are not a democracy.’
Orders to remain at home and rafts of new laws to restrict what people can do amount to a ‘breathtaking’ infringement of democratic rights, he said.
He accused ministers of using the police to suppress opposition to their policies, of creating new criminal offences without the legal right to do so, and of grabbing unconstitutional powers by issuing misleading guidance.
He warned the methods used by ministers will undo the unity of society and will lead to long-term authoritarian government.