The coronavirus crackdown sets a dangerous precedent

Has the coronavirus crackdown gone too far? Some of Boris Johnson’s own MPs certainly think so. This week, Tory MP Edward Leigh accused the government of ‘authoritarianism’ over the decision to impose greater restrictions during this second wave of coronavirus infections. Leigh is right to be concerned: we have seen the rights and privileges that had taken centuries or millennia to achieve indifferently cast aside in the space of six months by public health measures outlined in the Coronavirus Act.

We were told in the early days of the pandemic that the measures were necessary to ‘protect the NHS‘ and ‘flatten the curve‘. But while those aims were achieved, I’m not convinced we can credit the strict rules which were introduced.

Although certain NHS hospitals in the country were stretched to capacity, others, fortunately, were not. This may have been partly due to social distancing measures but it may also have been because many operations were cancelled