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On travel bans and legal rules: a few thoughts.
For several weeks this year it was a criminal offence in Scotland to leave your home without reasonable excuse. The law defined, in detail and with clarity, what a reasonable excuse was 1/
For several weeks this year it was a criminal offence in Scotland to leave your home without reasonable excuse. The law defined, in detail and with clarity, what a reasonable excuse was 1/
It is now to be an offence to leave your local authority area, if it is classed in Tier 4, unless an exemption applies. The law can—and will have to—clarify with great care and precision what these exemptions are 2/
These powers are extraordinary. Throughout this pandemic we have lived under extraordinary powers. In a democracy we tolerate them but only where they are shown on the basis of evidence to be necessary. Not expedient/useful/etc. But necessary 3/
It’s Parliament’s (and the media’s) job to subject government claims of necessity to robust and searching scrutiny. Better to do that than to engage in wild talk of North Korea, police state, road blocks and the like. /Ends
