‘MPs have just got to take back control of lawmaking’, says barrister

Adam Wagner, an expert on Covid rules, believes ministers have assumed far too much say over our lives

Lawmaking during the coronavirus pandemic has been anti-democratic, sidelining parliament and handing huge control over people's private lives to a small group of ministers without adequate scrutiny, a prominent human rights barrister has said.

Adam Wagner, described in the House of Lords as perhaps the only person in the country who can make sense of this variety of [Covid] regulations", urged MPs to take back control" after a period in which laws have been passed by the swish of a minister's pen".