Parts of Britain are now like a "police state" due to heavy-handed enforcement of coronavirus lockdown rules, a former Supreme Court Justice has warned.
Lord Sumption spoke out after a police force in Derbyshire, England, released drone footage of walkers in the Peak District and then used ink to die a blue lagoon black to stop tourists visiting it.
“I have to say that the behaviour of Derbyshire Police in trying to shame people in using their undoubted right to travel to take exercise in the country and wrecking beauty spots in the fells so people don’t want to go there is frankly disgraceful," he told Radio 4’s The World At One.
“This is what a police state is like. It’s a state in which the Government can issue orders or express preferences with no legal authority and the police will enforce ministers’ wishes.”
“Derbyshire Police have shamed our policing traditions.
“There is a natural tendency, of course, and a strong temptation for the police to lose sight of their real functions and turn themselves from citizens in uniform into glorified school prefects.
“I think it’s really sad that the Derbyshire Police have failed to resist that.”
He added: “The tradition of policing in this country is that policemen are citizens in uniform, they are not members of a disciplined hierarchy operating just at the Government’s command.
“Yet in some parts of the country, the police have been trying to stop people from doing things like travelling to take exercise in the open country which are not contrary to the regulations simply because ministers have said that they would prefer us not to.
“The police have no power to enforce ministers’ preferences but only legal regulations which don’t go anything like as far as the Government’s guidance."
Asked about Lord Sumption's comments, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it was important to follow the “letter and the spirit” of Government guidance.
He said: “Of course, we back the police doing a very difficult job in unprecedented circumstances.
“Of course there needs to be common sense in the way some of that guidance is interpreted but overall, the overriding message that we want to convey to the British public, and I think the police are rightly trying to convey, is that we need to all be following the letter and the spirit of that guidance and that’s the way we curtail this virus and we get through this challenge as quickly as possible.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel