Ministers unveil emergency coronavirus laws

Ministers today formally unveiled draft emergency laws to combat the spread of coronavirus and the disruption it is causing. 

The fast-tracked legislation will enable authorities to speed up funerals and allow the NHS to draft in retired doctors and nurses. 

It will also provide extra financial support for self-isolating workers.

The legislation was presented to Parliament this afternoon and ministers are hoping to crash it through the House of Commons on Monday and Tuesday next week. 

The publication of the draft laws came as the Army prepared to help out in the crisis and as Londoners faced the prospect of greater restrictions due to the faster spread of coronavirus in the capital.   

So far, 104 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK and tens of thousands of people are thought to be infected.

Meanwhile, schools across the UK will close their doors for the foreseeable future on Friday and the Bank of England today slashed interest rates from 0.25 per cent to just 0.1 per cent.

The government’s proposed emergency coronavirus laws will hand ministers, the NHS and the police a raft of new powers. 

Downing Street has insisted that all of the powers being pursued will be strictly time-limited to a period of two years. 

Rules will be relaxed to enable recently retired doctors and nurses to return to the NHS and help boost the health service’s capacity during the outbreak. 

The retired staff will be able to return to work without suffering ‘any negative repercussions’ to their pension pots. 

A state-backed insurance scheme will be rolled out to cover NHS staff to ensure they are able to care for patients if they are moved away from their normal day-to-day duties. 

Paperwork and administrative requirements will also be slashed so that doctors are able to discharge recovered patients more quickly to free up as much hospital space as possible. 

Extra help will also be introduced for volunteers to allow them to pause their main jobs for up to four months while they help care for patients. 

One of the most controversial proposals is to relax requirements relating to cremation paperwork in a bid to speed up funerals.  

Police and immigration officers will be given new powers to enable them to detain people if they are believed to be a risk to public health, for example, if people are sick and refuse to self-isolate. 

The draft laws will also put in place improved statutory sick pay arrangements for people who are self-isolating and allow small businesses to reclaim sick pay payments from the government – a measure announced by Mr Sunak at the Budget earlier this month.

More phone and video hearings in courts will be introduced to combat the spread of the virus. 

Border Force will be able to temporarily suspend operations at airports and transport hubs if there are not enough workers to maintain border security. 

Labour is not expected to force a vote on the legislation which will allow it to pass through Parliament swiftly with some MPs in self-isolation and concerns about others gathering in the House. 

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has written a list of conditions to the PM which he said would need to be considered in order for the laws to gain public support.

Mr Corbyn said the powers contained within the legislation must be renewed by a fresh vote in Parliament every six months in order to prevent too much power being handed to the Government. 

It came as the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee met for a special meeting today and voted to cut interest rates to 0.1 per cent.

The MPC also agreed that the Bank will increase its holdings of UK government and corporate bonds by £200 billion.

The MPC said: ‘The spread of Covid-19 and the measures being taken to contain the virus will result in an economic shock that could be sharp and large, but should be temporary.’

Last week the Bank cut the rate from 0.5 per cent to 0.25 per cent as it unveiled a raft of measures to prop up businesses and the British economy as coronavirus continues to wreak havoc.  

The decision to drop interest rates to 0.1 per cent comes in Andrew Bailey’s first week as the Bank’s new governor after he took over from Mark Carney. 

The rates cut came as Chancellor Rishi Sunak met with business and union leaders to try to hammer out extra help for workers hit hard by coronavirus disruption.