Complacency and UK Democracy

 

Complacency and UK Democracy

Much has been said about democracy in the USA, but we should not be complacent about the state of democracy in the UK.   I publish below the lead letter in The Daily Telegraph of 6^th January 2021 written by Iwan Price-Evans.   He raises some major points.

Sir – How was it possible, in this crisis, for our much-lauded human rights and civil liberties to be suspended so easily, without even the right to protest publicly against this?

Why were ministers and scientists allowed to present statistics out of context in a way that was misleading, without immediate questions from the media?

What role did Ofcom play in the communication or suppression of anti-lockdown views?

What happened to the tens of billions of pounds spent on a test-and-trace system that did not work?

What is the Government’s estimate for the impact of lockdown on the health, education and social mobility on the generation currently in full-time education?

Perhaps most importantly, how can we plan for the future when, at any time, the Government can tear it apart without accountability, using flimsy legislation backed by a constitution that has proved inadequate to the task of protecting our rights?

When the Covid crisis has passed, we must ask these questions of our masters in government, Whitehall and the judiciary, and we must get satisfactory answers.