Civil Contingencies Bill to be unveiled
The Cabinet Office today will publish new contingency plans on how it intends to deal with the advent of a major catastrophe.
Douglas Alexander is to publish the Civil Contingencies Bill – mooted in the Queen’s Speech – which details how government agencies would act during civilian disasters such as a chemical or biological terrorist attack, another foot-and-mouth outbreak, or a major power outrage.
The Cabinet Office intends to modernise Britain’s seemingly outdated laws such the Emergency Powers Act 1920 and the Civil Defence Act 1948.
The new bill will flesh out how the regions, emergency services, local councils and central government departments should act in the advent of a terror strike.
Critics of the legislation have pointed to possible civil rights abuses as published draft plans included clauses allowing the Government to push through temporary legislation without Parliamentary approval.
Pressure group Liberty said the definition of “emergency” was “extraordinarily wide.”
Its director of human rights group, Shami Chakrabarti, said: “What we are concerned about is that the definition of an emergency is so broad that it could cover any contingency whatsoever. That is a very very disturbing trend.
“It gives far too much power to Government itself to define what it considers an emergency.
“The previous legislation was actually quite specific about what is a civil emergency and what is not.”
