Further
guidance and FAQs have now been released on the government website. They reveal that for all of Hancock's bluff and bluster about restrictions coming in "from midnight", they haven't actually signed in the new GM etc. Regulations into law yet:
The government will pass new laws to enforce the changes to meeting people in private homes and gardens. The police will be able to take action against those that break these rules
I find it extremely concerning that the government is happy to lie about whether or not something is the law. This could become a way for them to circumvent restrictions on laws they are allowed to implement (cf. human rights etc.) in the future, by claiming that the law is one thing when actually it's something entirely else.
I'm also not aware of any Regulations restricting indoor gyms and swimming pools from being allowed to reopen in Bradford as they claim:
In Blackburn with Darwen and Bradford, the following premises must remain closed by law:
- indoor gyms
- indoor fitness and dance studios
- indoor sports courts and facilities
- indoor swimming pools, including indoor facilities at water parks
No doubt there'll be those who say "what does it matter - most people don't read the laws anyway, are you asking for people to take needless risks?". The point is this - it's simply yet another attack on the rule of law. It's no different to how the government "instructed" schools to close and then later use the fact that they hadn't legally
forced them to close, as a defence against a judicial review of such closures.
The interests of both the rule of law and public health can easily be effectively served at the same time; in fact, the latter would benefit due to a reduction in the confusion that is now reigning over such nonsense as:
If you live in one of the affected areas, in order to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, you should not ... visit someone else’s home or garden even if they live outside of the affected areas.
All it would take is for the government to have pro-forma Regulations ready for every possible level of restriction, and then simply stated which level of restrictions applied in each area, with a weekly review.
This is where it all begins when you're travelling towards the direction of the disgusting dictatorship PiS party in Poland...