How is emergency coronavirus legislation made?

Most of the laws of lockdown are in the form of statutory instruments, sometimes published a few hours before they come into effect, and sometimes even a few days afterwards, writes John Rentoul

There has been much confusion about the rules on masks (Getty)

When Boris Johnson announced the national lockdown on 23 March, the legislation to back up his instruction to stay at home wasn’t actually published until three days later. For a brief period, therefore, the police were expected to enforce laws (such as against sunbathing) that did not yet exist.

It is the same with the rules against household mixing in Manchester and other parts of northwest England that were announced by Matt Hancock on Thursday night and confirmed by the prime minister on Friday. Although “guidance” was published on the government website on Friday, and updated on Saturday, the actual legislation wasn’t published over the weekend (it should appear on this page).

Sometimes, the difference between guidance and legislation can be significant. The one-metre “plus” rule for social distancing in England is guidance, not law. The guidance in England is that people from different households can gather outside in groups of up to six, while the law allows outdoor gatherings of up to 30 people. (This may have been modified because the police thought it would be too difficult to enforce the lower limit.)