How the UK Government Relies Upon Your Ignorance of the Law

What has struck me the most about the government’s actions is how many of them rely on the public’s ignorance of the law:

“Rule of six applies to private homes”: …which police need a warrant to enter. To get a warrant, police need to provide evidence that an indictable offence (for all intents and purposes one punishable by more than 6 months in prison) is being committed. The Coronavirus act does not even create any indictable offences, so they couldn’t get a warrant even if they wanted one.

Test and trace: The forms ask you for your number and postcode, both of which can be easily falsified without inadvertently giving a stranger’s details if you know what you are doing. Even if they can track you down and prove you intentionally gave false details, there is no offence in criminal law that you can be arrested or charged with for doing so. Insisting that customers use the app is pretty suicidal from a business point of view as it alienates a lot of customers, but even still what stops you from deleting the app from your phone as soon as you are out of the door?

“Essential journeys only”: If the police wish to take action against you for making a non-essential journey, they have to prove that your journey is NOT essential. You don’t have to prove anything. Invoking your right to silence will deny them the only source of evidence they can realistically obtain. Same applies if they want to do you for “being outside without good reason”, ask if you are being detained and don’t answer questions without a lawyer.

Face Masks: Before I start, I would like to emphasise that I do not condone faking disabilities. But if you claim a medical exemption from wearing a face covering, it is highly unlikely that you will be challenged. Doing so would probably fall foul of the Equality Act.

Marshals: They are nothing more than unemployables in hi vis jackets. They have no enforcement or investigative powers. Businesses can ask them to leave the premises, or even withdraw their implied right of access.