‘Support bubbles’ add to coronavirus lockdown confusion

Analysis: The latest changes come on top of three separate sets of overlapping coronavirus laws, Lizzie Dearden writes

A mother walks past a covered bar with a ‘Thank you NHS’ painting on it in London (AP)

From Saturday, the government says people who live alone will be able to form a “support bubble” with another household.

New guidance states that they will be allowed to scrap social distancing and stay overnight away from their own home in England.

The Health Protection Regulations, which allow police to enforce lockdown conditions, are being rewritten for a fourth time to take account of the change.

The laws, which can be punished with default £100 fines in England, were hastily drawn up in late March and have been repeatedly overhauled without parliamentary scrutiny.

They are also different in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The regulations were the second Covid-19 law drawn up after the Coronavirus Act, which envisaged the creation of screening centres for “potentially infectious persons” that never materialised.

Police officers’ confusion between the act and regulations have resulted in a series of miscarriages of justice where the wrong law was applied.

And now, a layer of fresh confusion has been added by the creation of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (England) Regulations 2020.

That law requires people arriving in England to self-isolate for 14 days and stay in contact with Public Health England (PHE).

If PHE has concerns that a person is not self-isolating, they will refer them to a triage centre and police may be asked to make a visit.

Official guidance from the College of Policing says enforcement is a “last resort” after officers encourage people to follow the law voluntarily, but those refusing can be fined £1,000.

So there are now three overlapping suites of laws in operation, which each have a lengthy list of exceptions and the possibility for a “reasonable excuse” that is open to interpretation.

And the government has now issued convoluted advice on “support bubbles” that only applies to adults who live alone.

It will be seen as unfair on single people or live-apart couples who have housemates, or elderly people with surviving spouses who will still not be able to welcome or stay with relatives.

Downing Street briefed journalists that there would be “no policing of the arrangement” and that it would rely on “goodwill”.

That hope relies on people knowing what the law is, and the general public can be forgiven for losing track.

It is in everyone’s interest for the government to streamline its sprawling coronavirus legislation and align it with official guidance as soon as possible.