![handle is hein.journals/kingsclj31 and id is 1 raw text is:
King's Law Journal, 2020 Routledge
Vol. 31, No. 1, 1-24, https://doi.org/10.1080/09615768.2020.1759398
Covid-19: Government by Decree
K. D. Ewing*
I. INTRODUCTION
On 24 September 2019, the United Kingdom Supreme Court held that an attempt by
the then Conservative government to prorogue Parliament was unlawful.' In doing so,
the Court powerfully re-asserted the principle of parliamentary sovereignty and the
role of Parliament in the British constitution. Six months later that all seems to
have been forgotten, the United Kingdom experiencing the type of government by
executive decree that would be condemned elsewhere. The executive style now in
vogue involves the introduction of new forms of 'law' making, and has far-reaching
consequences for personal liberty and police powers. As I write, Parliament is in
recess at the most critical point in the nation's history since the early 1940s, and effec-
tive parliamentary scrutiny is almost totally absent. It is not only the Prime Minister
who was 'missing in action' at the start of the crisis, as some of his critics controver-
sially allege.
I wish to make it clear that I do not under-estimate the nature and scale of the crisis
created by Covid-19, including the personal tragedies being left in its wake, and the dev-
astation of the global and national economy. It is impossible to exaggerate the extraordi-
nary burden being carried by front-line workers in health and social care, transport, and
food distribution, or the impact on family life by being confined to home for may be weeks
if not months. Nor should anyone be under any illusion that the burdens of this crisis are
being shared equally: not all will die, not all will lose their jobs and income, not all will lose
their businesses, and not all will be confined to small houses, flats or rooms in cramped
conditions without access to a garden or yard. We are not 'all in this together': the
burden will fall unequally for multiple reasons.2 But as the nation faces crisis it is Parlia-
ment's duty to be at the helm, not only to empower but also to hold government to
account.
King's College London. My sincere thanks to Octavio Ferraz, Michael Ford and Jeff King, who spared my
blushes. All remaining errors are mine alone. Email: keith.ewing@kcl.ac.uk.
1 R (Miller) v Prime Minister [2019] UKSC 41.
2 See KD Ewing and Lord Hendy, 'All in it Together? The Reality is Sadly Different', Morning Star (11 April
2020). The point is made more vividly in Octavio Luiz Motta Ferraz, 'Pandemic Inequality: The Two
Worlds of Social Distancing', The Yale Review (2020, available online).
© 2020 School of Law, King's College London](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/kingsclj31&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most