From today on - once this legislation passes - police will be able to come into your house without a warrant if they think there is a party going on inside. A party. Of more than 10 people. Not a murder scene, not drug-cooking, a gathering of more than 10 people.
You could perhaps make excuses for the East German police approach under levels 3 or 4 when health authorities were worried about silent community transmission, but under level 2 this is overkill.
We have 74 people with Covid-19 in this country and yet the Government believes it's fine to allow police unfettered access into the homes of 5 million people.
The Government could've required police to get a warrant first like we normally require in western democratic countries. In normal times, even at night, police are able to get a warrant in a hurry from a JP. Yes, it takes slightly longer. Yes, there is paperwork. But that's not unreasonable when police are coming into the homes of people who could be perfectly innocent.
How have we got to a stage where we think this is fine. Where we accept rules that say only 10 people are allowed at funerals but 100 people can go to a pub? Where families can't get out of quarantine to say goodbye to dying family members and people in hospitals die without any loved ones holding their hands?
This all feels like a blinkered, mono-focused, perfectionist approach to get zero zero zero and to hell with the sadness and loss of human rights.
Politically the law passing today is not a good for the Government but especially bad for the Attorney General, David Parker. This is the same guy responsible for the stuff-up over whether the lockdown was legal or not. He has high regard for his own abilities and yet created far too many legal headaches for the Government thus far.
