Sunset Clause is coming to town: Inside the Corona Bill

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2020

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

That “draconian” Corona Bill: exactly how swingeing are the powers it bestows? And will the Government give them up as fast as they assumed them? Special guest Paul Waugh of Huffington Post on what it’s like to be present in one of Johnson’s emergency press conferences. Jeremy Corbyn’s last stand. And has the BBC’s temporary reprieve from Government attention bought it a whole new set of headaches for the future? “Labour are now thinking that if Johnson is going be Churchill in this crisis, can their next leader be Attlee?” – Paul Waugh “It was pretty extraordinary that Johnson made that announcement to 27 million people, and the next day he didn’t put himself forward for questions… Johnson likes the cut and thrust of questions. But those around him aren’t so keen.” – Paul Waugh Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Hannah White and Joe Marshall. Audio production by Alex Rees. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, welcome back to Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.
0:14.0	I'm Bronwyn Maddox. We've got the UK in lockdown, more or less, with a coronavirus outbreak
0:18.7	forcing the Prime Minister to bring in measures which we all thought were unimaginable just days ago. In a televised address watched by 27 million
0:26.8	people on Monday evening, most of those on the BBC, by the way, Boris Johnson had one message,
0:31.6	stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives. A simple message, maybe, but one which still prompted a lot of confusion and
0:39.5	many questions, above all, who was supposed to be at work and who wasn't. Parliament grappled
0:44.6	with that question on its own behalf, finally deciding to rise early. And one of the government's
0:49.5	final acts was to turn the coronavirus bill, which gives it a sweeping range of emergency powers into law.
0:56.5	So as the UK goes into hibernation, duration unknown, what role will the state now play?
1:02.1	How far do its powers now extend? And with Parliament, ministers and journalists all sequestered away,
1:07.7	how can this government be scrutinized and held to account?
1:11.2	Before we start, a quick reminder about our new sister podcast, IFG Live, where you can hear all
1:16.4	the panels, talks and updates that ordinarily we'd be taking place in our London headquarters.
1:21.7	You can hear those in the comfort of your own home.
1:24.0	And so this week you can listen to my discussion with Shami Chakrabati, Labor's Shadow Attorney General,
1:29.6	plus an IFG panel of our very own experts. Yes, we're very proud to have them, discussing Boris Johnson's
1:35.5	first 100 days in power, 50 of those that went to plan and 50 of them in this new world. So you can
1:42.2	find IFG live on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get inside
1:46.6	briefing, or at instituteforgovernment.org.com. With that, let's get started on today's
1:53.4	podcast. Joining me at two of the IFG's finest parliamentary observers, hi to our deputy director, Hannah White.
1:59.6	Hello.
2:00.3	Hannah, where are you? And how have you been?
	...

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