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If Tory MPs want to protect freedom, why are they supporting the Elections Bill?

By:   []

Date: 2021-12

Boris Johnson suffered a massive rebellion on Tuesday, with around 100 of his own Conservative MPs voting against new measures to tackle COVID.

With support from the opposition parties, the measures still passed. Adults in England will now need a vaccine pass to enter certain venues, or show proof of a negative test. The new rules also introduce compulsory jabs for English NHS workers.

But Tory MPs who voted against the government claimed that this could be the start of creeping authoritarianism. Former minister Tim Loughton said he didn’t want to live in “a society where we ask for papers and deprive people of their liberty”.

Tory MP Marcus Fysh apologised after comparing the measures to Nazi Germany. He had previously said: “We are not a ‘papers please’ society. This is not Nazi Germany. It’s the thin end of an authoritarian wedge.”

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But putting aside the crass comments and some latent confusion around whether these measures are ‘vaccine passports’ (they aren’t), it is warming to see so many Conservative MPs worried about civil liberties and democratic freedom.

However, if their concern is genuine, they should pay closer attention to the priorities of their government.

Democratic backsliding

While MPs were panicking about COVID restrictions this week, a cross-party committee called on the government to pause plans to change the UK’s election law.

The review was particularly damning about two controversial elements of the Elections Bill: the legal requirement for photographic identification to be shown by the public in order to vote (papers, please!) and changes that would undermine the independence of the election watchdog.
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