Steve Baker – Coronavirus Act is ‘excessive and disproportionate’
This week, before Parliament breaks up for the Easter recess, the government will seek to extend the Coronavirus Act by a further six months. The act, which was first passed almost exactly one year ago, has been met with serious discontent by many Conservative backbenchers, who argue that the curbs it has imposed on civil liberties are unacceptable. Steve Baker, the deputy chair of the Covid Recovery Group, told Sophy Ridge why he would be voting against extending the Act:
SB: I think it’s excessive and disproportionate, and the government itself now isn’t using its powers… I think the Coronavirus Act should now go… The government does need to start taking advantage of their own success in the vaccination programme.
The police are in ‘an invidious position’
Baker also put in a message of support for the police, who have been under fire for several aspects of their managing of the restrictions, from inconsistent enforcement of public protests to the recent finding by the Crown Prosecution Service that every single one of the 246 prosecutions made under the Coronavirus Act had been unlawful:
SB: The police obviously sometimes do make mistakes… [but] the point is, the police are being put in an invidious position… We expect them to apply the law… and we shouldn’t be surprised when they do so… Powers have been used under 118 acts of Parliament to cope with coronavirus, so it’s an extremely complex legal environment.
Ben Wallace – ‘The final mile is the most important’
The Defence Secretary was the government’s chief spokesman this morning, and Sophy Ridge sought answers from him as to why the government felt the extension of the Coronavirus Act by six months was so necessary:
BW: We have, all of us… made incredible sacrifices over the last year to make sure that we try and get on top of this pandemic… I don’t think now is the time to throw [our progress] away or potentially put that at risk… The final mile is the most important thing for us all. .
The EU ‘knows the world is watching’
The conversation turned to the issue of vaccine supply and possible threats to the supply chain. The UK has passed a significant milestone with over half of all adults now having received a jab. However, the spectre of the EU trying to halt AstraZeneca vaccines leaving factories in Brussels has risen once more. Ridge asked for Wallace’s response:
BW: All of us recognise the importance of international law and upholding contract law around the world… If contracts get broken… that is a very damaging thing to happen for a trading bloc that prides itself on the rule of law… The Commission knows deep down that the world is watching what happens.
We are ‘wide-eyed’ about our relationship with China
Ridge challenged Wallace over the government’s approach to China. A leaked video call revealed the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab telling his civil servants that restricting trade deals to countries with ‘EHRC-level standards’ on human rights would mean missing out on important opportunities for growth. However, the Chinese government’s treatment of the Uighur people in the country’s north west has been declared as a ‘genocide’ by the United States and the Canadian House of Commons. Ridge suggested that the UK’s reluctance to follow suit was linked to hopes for economic growth:
BW: If we didn’t trade with China, we would actually have… [fewer] levers to try and influence China’s behaviour… We think it is appalling what is going on with the Uighurs, but we cannot just overnight stop trading directly with China… We are wide-eyed about China’s place in the world, but it’s place in the world is significant… We are taking steps where we can.
We need a ‘credible’ nuclear deterrent
The Ministry of Defence is preparing to increase its stockpile of nuclear warheads, after a legal cap on numbers has been increased. It is thought that the UK is in possession of 195 such warheads, and the new limit is 260. Andrew Marr asked Wallace for the rationale behind this:
BW: If you’re going to have a nuclear deterrent, it has to be credible… [It is] my duty in that job of maintaining a credible deterrent to reflect and review what the Russian and others have been up to in the last few years. We have seen Russia invest strongly in ballistic missile defence.
David Cameron’s lobbying efforts ‘were not successful’
It has been reported in the Financial Times that former Prime Minister David Cameron has personally lobbied the Chancellor Rishi Sunak on behalf of a company that he advised. Cameron was allegedly trying to increase the coronavirus loan offered to Greensill Capital, a financial services company, which collapsed earlier this month:
BW: Ministers and MPs get lobbied all the time by a range of people… I think the fundamentals… [are] that the Treasury followed the correct procedures… and the lobbying efforts were not successful, if they happened.
Mairead McGuinness – ‘Everything is on the table’
Marr also spoke to Mairead McGuinness, the EU’s Commissioner for Financial Services, about the Commission’s proposed export ban on vaccines. McGuinness suggested that this threat was still a live one:
MM: [European] leaders will meet this week and they will make the assessment of the current situation about the rollout of vaccines, and perhaps make decisions… As the president of the Commission said herself, everything is on the table, but there is no decision.
Lisa Nandy – We are ‘absolutely baffled’ by lifting of nuclear cap
The Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy told Marr why Labour was not minded to support an increase in nuclear warheads:
LN: We are absolutely baffled as to why the government has done it. There may be a reason why they’ve done this. One of the examples mooted has been that perhaps they need to have two nuclear deterrents concurrently, but… until they can give an explanation to the House of Commons, we won’t support them.
Jonathan Ashworth – MPs should be able to amend Coronavirus Act
Ridge interviewed the Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth, and the conversation turned to the Coronavirus Act. Ashworth told Ridge that Labour was likely to back the government on extending the act, but he also reached out to Steve Baker:
JA: It’s still quite dangerous out there… That will mean… that the government will have to have the power to impose restrictions where necessary… It’s a complex piece of legislation. It ought to be properly scrutinised… [and] Steve Baker… should be given the opportunity to put forward amendments to the Act… I’d be happy to sit down with him tomorrow to see if we can.
We will use all women shortlists in ‘other elections’
Ridge asked Ashworth about an area that is currently causing embarrassment for the Labour party – that of the candidate for the upcoming Hartlepool by-election. Former MP Paul Williams apologised after a tweet of his was unearthed which referred to having ‘a favourite Tory MILF’. Ridge suggested Labour was fond of talking a good game on feminism, but not of living up to it:
SR: In the Labour party, is everyone a feminist, as long as it suits you…? JA: …We’re still committed to all-women shortlists… and we’ll continue to use all women shortlists in parliamentary elections and future by-election suggestions. SR: Just not this one? JA: …We will use all-women shortlists in other parliamentary selections, I’ve got absolutely no doubt of that.
Leeona Dorrian – We should have ‘specialist courts’ for sexual assault
And finally, Scotland’s Lord Justice Clerk Lady Dorrian, outlined her latest proposals aimed at reducing trauma in court cases involving serious sexual assault, which would include accusers being able to give their evidence at only one stage of the process:
LD: We’re not recommending that juries should be abolished for these cases, but… the idea that we carry on doing things the way we have always been doing them isn’t necessarily the best way forward… We should be open to looking at all other options.
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