Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered a ‘greater police presence’ to enforce face coverings that will be required in many indoor settings from August 8th.
Mr Johnson said the plans to extend face coverings to venues like museums, cinemas and places of worship would require a “greater police presence” to enforce the rules and levy £100 fines on those who refused to wear a mask in such venues.
A Government source said: “You are going to see more police out and about, not only doing their policing duties but more active in their role enforcing these Covid-19 rules.”
Many policing leaders have said that compulsory face coverings are “impossible to enforce.”
Yesterday it was revealed that police had handed out 13 fines to passengers not wearing masks on public transport across the country in the month of June. Face coverings became mandatory on trains, buses, Tubes, coaches, trams, planes and ferries on June 15.
The PM aired his concerns over the apparent failings in enforcement when he revealed he had asked, the Home Secretary Priti Patel: “to work with the police and others to ensure the rules which are already in place are properly enforced.”
He added: “That means local authorities acting to close down premises and cancel events which are not following Covid Secure guidance.
“And it means a greater police presence to ensure face coverings are being worn where this is required by law.
“Most people in this country are following the rules and doing their bit to control the virus. But we must keep our discipline, we must be focused and we cannot be complacent.”
However, Ken Marsh, chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation accused the government of mixed messaging, he said: “I doubt 50 per cent of people walking into shops are wearing facial coverings. Nor have I seen any signs saying you need to wear face coverings by law,
“We give fines to people but we have been massively criticised for that so my colleagues are reticent doing that. This could have been very straightforward if it had been done in stages and explained it as we went along but there have been all sorts of ambiguities.”
Chief Constable Dave Thompson, NPCC vice-chair, said: “All businesses, local authorities and responsible agencies should play their part in encouraging the public to comply with the regulations or enforcing them where appropriate.”
Richard Drax, a member of the Commons defence committee, warned: “I am anxious at the authoritarian side of the debate.
“We are going to have to live with this thing and making things mandatory sets the police against those they need to take care of, customer against shopkeeper and citizen against citizen. If people want to wear a mask they should and if they don’t want to then you shouldn’t have to.”
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Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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