The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee published its report, ‘Coronavirus Act 2020 two years on’ this week, criticising the ‘take it or leave it’ nature of the sunset clause for six-monthly votes on the Act, where MPs were unable to object to individual elements of the legislation. It criticised the government for issuing guidance which overruled legislation.
In its conclusions, the committee stated: ‘Any future use of sunset clauses in relation to emergency legislation should come with a clear explanation about why the government believes that the length of the sunset being proposed is proportionate to the emergency being addressed.’
Looking ahead to future emergencies, it said: ‘The committee calls on the government to carefully consider the use of guidance in future emergencies to ensure maximum clarity and minimal complexity for the public and law enforcement.
‘The government should ensure that future legislation of this type doesn’t allow for the ability to use guidance to overrule key elements of legislation, as this leads to confusion.’
The MPs also called for on the government to publish a timetable for the UK COVID-19 inquiry, stressing it must be done in a ‘thorough and timely manner’ while ‘the experiences of the pandemic and the government’s response are fresh in the mind and to avoid institutional knowledge being lost’.
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