Dear John,

This morning I wrote to the Prime Minister laying out urgent steps to ensure everyone in the UK is adequately protected during the upcoming national lockdown.

Liberty has supported proportionate measures to protect public health since the start of the pandemic. But far from all ‘being in it together’, too many people have fallen through the cracks of the Government’s response. 

With a month-long lockdown coming on Thursday, this must be addressed now.

Protecting everyone

Liberty has recommended a number of measures to be included in the new legislation and guidance, including:

• There must be a ‘sunset clause’ in the law requiring new restrictions to end on Wednesday 2 December.
• Additional police enforcement powers should be minimal.
• All self-isolating workers should receive full sick pay, and ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ workers should receive full sick pay if they can’t work from home.
• People must not lose their homes. 
• Local authorities must have the funding to maintain or enhance their social care provision.
• There must be funding to ensure homeless people can access safe and suitable accommodation, regardless of their immigration status.  
• Refuges and domestic violence services must have funding to meet increasing levels of need.
• Charging migrants for NHS services must stop, as well as data-sharing for immigration enforcement purposes, and the ‘no recourse to public funds’ rule should be suspended. 

And it is vital that everyone knows exactly what we can and can’t do. Government messaging has been confusing for the public and police since the start of the pandemic. 

I have also called on the Prime Minister to make sure communications from public authorities accurately distinguish between law and guidance – and come from reliable sources we can all access, not anonymous sources or paywalled publications. 

Safeguarding liberties and equality is essential to protect public health. Liberty will always strive to work with the Government to make sure that everyone in the UK is treated fairly, with dignity and respect.

Take care,

Gracie Bradley
Interim Director

P.S. I’m stepping up from my role in the Advocacy team to lead Liberty as Director while Martha Spurrier is on parent leave. If you want to read about our vision for the next nine months, you can do so here. 

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