More than 28,000 people in England and Wales have been convicted of breaches of COVID-19 regulations, despite the Government’s insistence that it never intended to criminalise people for minor infractions during the pandemic. The Guardian (yes, really) has more.
The convictions are for Covid-related offences, such as attendance at gatherings during lockdowns or arriving at airports without the proper evidence of a coronavirus test. Almost 16,000 of the convictions – or 55% – involved people under 30.
The figures, which were obtained by the Guardian through analysis of data from the Ministry of Justice, are considerably higher than any previous estimate.
They reveal how tens of thousands of mostly young people have been severely penalised for relatively minor infractions of Covid rules that have left them with damaging fines and, in many cases, criminal records.
Two years after restrictions were lifted, magistrates are continuing to work their way through a backlog of cases, with about 100 Covid-related cases being heard each month.
The average fine issued in magistrates courts last year was £6,000, although some people have been fined as much as £10,000.
The figures will add impetus to growing calls on the Government to halt the criminal prosecutions. Penelope Gibbs, the Director of the campaign group Transform Justice, said: “It is ridiculous that the courts are still prosecuting people for Covid offences. All outstanding Covid prosecutions should be cancelled immediately.”
The Government said it intended to treat most breaches of Covid regulations as civil infractions, introducing fines to deter behaviour that could spread the virus, rather than criminalising people.
The then Minister for Policing, Kit Malthouse, told the Justice Committee in 2021 that the on-the-spot fines for Covid breaches were a “psychological game” and “relatively light-touch”. Lord Bethell, then a minister at the health department, said the Government was “clamping down on… but not criminalising behaviour”.
Those statements appear at odds with the 28,000 convictions, which are understood to largely stem from people who initially received fixed-penalty notices. If a fine is contested – or left unpaid – it can result in magistrate judges ruling on the case without the defendant being present, under special fast-track measures.
Misunderstood or missed paperwork has led to people being found guilty and sentenced without their knowledge. Some say they had no idea they had been convicted in absentia until the bailiffs arrived.
The Guardian adopting an anti-lockdown tone, albeit as part of a dig at the Government – maybe there is hope for the Left after all.
Worth reading in full.
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“ Kemi Badenoch said that it was “no time for a reality TV star””
As opposed to the party that brought you lockdowns, covid “vaccines”, the biggest lie in history. OK Kemi. Pull the other one.
Says the gaptoothed Nigerian WEF Young Leadership acolyte.
From Churchill to that.
I have my doubts about Farage and Tice but this is good news if the sheeple are starting to wake up.
You really summed her up perfectly in four words:
“From Churchill to that.”
“Farage is weaker on being a “divisive figure”, his closeness to Donald Trump and whether the party has the intellectual depth to actually form a government.”
LMFAO what you mean like the “intellectual depth” of the current government, or the May/Johnson/Sunak adminstrations? Perhaps you have to go back to Blair and Cameron son of Blair to find intellectual depth, employed in destroying our nation.
What did Sunak actually believe in, apart from Technocracy and CBDCs. He was a spineless little cretin.
Money.
Cameron, intellectual skill?! You gotta be joking.
Yeah, perhaps not. He carried on where Blair left off. Maybe he was just a useful idiot.
Well c’mon, be fair everybody has intellectual skill – some like Cameron just not much.
Blair’s intellectual depth was Campbell.
I think Trump is a positive thing for America, and I suspect he has now sussed what an a***hole Farage is and will distance himself from him.
I agree Trump is positive. Safe bet that Farage would be better than Starmer, though that’s a low bar.
No safe bets where Farage is concerned. He’s betrayed so many already
Trump isn’t a divisive figure, he is a disruptor. Good.
The division credited to him occurred before him, particularly during the reign of His Eminence St Barry of Obama and years of poison dripping out of the Democrat slander machine, and was what created the Trump MAGA movement.
Farage isn’t divisive, that division has been created by successive Governments since the war, first along class lines now ethnic multi-culti lines. “Diversity” means apart, different, unlike.
Farage, like Trump is a creation of that, but I don’t think he is a disruptor – pity.
Yes I generally agree. Politics is about differences of opinion, sometimes strong. We need proper opposition, not a Uniparty.
I would say Trump is more “divisive” than Farage because he’s less polished and DGAF in his manner and attitude. I would also say that Farage played a big part in the “disruption” that was the Brexit referendum.
Trump 2.0 has been better than 1.0, though this is concerning: Hey, At Least We Bombed Somebody – Ann Coulter
Where Trump scores over Farage is that the US seems to have much more vigorous opposition to state overreach.
“Farage comes out on top on 28%. Keir Starmer is 1% behind”
Is that really something to boast about, the most hated PM only one point behind!
Some good news here too, though it does just say ”delay”, not ”cancel”;
”The Sentencing Council is to delay the introduction of its two-tier guidance after being threatened with emergency legislation to block it by the Government.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/31/sentencing-council-suspends-two-tier-guidelines-backlash/
But if that’s the case, does that mean this no longer applies?
”Transgender and ethnic minority people are being given priority for bail under new guidelines drawn up by the Ministry of Justice.
Judges and magistrates are being told to prioritise those groups because they may be at ‘disproportionately higher risk’ if they are held in custody.
The guidelines asks judges to consider that some defendants may have experienced trauma through racism and discrimination.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14553135/ethnic-minority-suspects-priority-bail.html
He just scrapes past Starmer. Says it all.
What are we to make of those who complain about Reform and Farage.
They are not satisfied that a party relaunched in the face of opposition by the elites and MSM has broken through the support levels of the old parties in under a year.
They query or condemn Farage because he does not exclusively champion their pet issue or does not use language they want – divisive, vote losing language and likely illegal in today’s authoritarian Britain.
Are they elite party agents. Are they determined to be defeated in glory. They have certainly not thought through the way to victory.
For me the jury is out and I will take stock when I need to – at the next General Election. They probably deserve a chance but have not always inspired my confidence. Bear in mind that those of us who are on the political right have been burned and betrayed by Tories who talk a good fight. I do not doubt for a minute your sincerity nor the sincerity of many at grass roots level.
Regarding the “divisive, vote losing language” – Trump got away with it. But perhaps the US is different.
Nonsense. We were all foolish enough to believe in Farage and Reform, even though he had “previous” in destroying two other successful “patriot parties” he set up, until he clearly showed his hand:
He’s going to pull another “Bait & Switch”, called Tommy Robinson “scum” while feigning concern for British children, allowed Yet Another Pakistani Muslim to buy the Reform party, rewrite its rules to allow the Muslim to be elected as Reform party leader in the future by flooding the party with new Muslim members, unjustly “vetted” and banned true patriots for criticising the Invading Muslim Army or Pakistani Muslim Child Rapists, and supported the Muslim and two female “plants” in falsely accusing Rupert Lowe for being too popular with the public.
A Vote for Reform is a Vote for the Caliphate.
My question is can he head a team rather than antagonise anyone who tries to work with him?
That would be a resounding NO. Take a look at Andrew Eborn’s interview of the journalist Martin Jay
https://youtu.be/KFYghpe5OpQ?feature=shared
MJ knows Farage well, and has done for years and even appears to have a bit of a soft spot for him but if even he condemns the man…… Farage is incapable of working with anyone who may prove to be cleverer or more popular that he is, he has to be top dog at all times. You cannot put together a decent team with an attitude like that. The Rupert Lowe saga reveals that it is impossible to sort things out with Farage behind closed doors and RL has been forced to go public. Rupert Lowe’s fate was sealed the moment that Elon Musk declared that he would make a better leader of Reform than Farage and that the latter just wasn’t up to the job. I wonder what Trump thinks of him now? It would be very interesting to know
If you’d had direct experience of working for Reform, you wouldn’t have to ask that question. Yusuf & Farage are also fans of the WEF so beware sheep in wolves’ clothing
No sane person can be fan of the WEF,,,it is run by lunatics.
I think it’s likely Reform will get more votes than any other party at the next general election but if they finish second in a large number of constituencies they might not be the largest party in the next parliament. Even if Reform are the largest party Farage’s chances of becoming the next PM could be pretty slim if the other parties form an “anti populist” coalition as has happened in Germany and Austria.
Given how low the turnout was at the last election Reform needs to put a huge amount of effort into convincing the millions of people that are totally disillusioned with politics/the uniparty that they are sufficiently different that it’s worth voting for them, even if people have never voted before/not voted for a long time.
I cancelled my Reform membership this morning. Letter below …
Can you please cancel my membership.
I believe Nigel Farage to be the most effective political figure since Margaret Thatcher.
So why the resignation? Two reasons.
1. We now have 109 thousand illegal immigrants, the majority of whom are military age Muslim men. By the time of the next election this figure will multiply many times.
2. Rupert Lowe rightly stated they must be detained and deported. Mr Farage has rejected this, further adding he can’t confront Islam. For no reason I can justify, he appointed a Muslim CEO to Reform. I don’t hate Muslims, but Islam, by definition, means ‘submission’. I can no longer be party to a movement led by a Muslim. If this changes, I’ll consider rejoining.
I’d be happy to speak to you further if this helps. I’m sure you’re aware many, if not most of your members feel the same way.
Sincerely
Hats off to you, Neil of Watford, for telling the truth, and backing it up by real action!
Indeed Neil, well said. I resigned from the party a couple of weeks ago – and my goodness don’t they make it difficult! I’ve now put in a Subject Access Request with which they have a month to comply. Since they are now so keen on GDPR and NDAs I thought I’d give them a taste of their own medicine. I’ve also demanded confirmation that their ‘membership’ ticker has been adjusted and my instructions have been followed. I too would be willing to rejoin if Yusuf either resigns or is removed but Farage has proved just how untrustworthy he is too so I’d prefer the ‘party’ to be led by someone else – but of course, since it is still a plc with Farage & Yusuf as the two directors, this seems unlikely. They were supposed to democratise the ‘party’ but merely made it Reform UK (2025) Ltd and as such they don’t have members, they just have subscribers. Weasels the pair of them
Nigel topped the poll, conducted by the French polling company Ipsos, as “best prime minister”, from which Rupert Lowe’s name was excluded, and the article celebrating this was written by Yet Another Muslim, Kamal Ahmed, whose English mother is from Rotherham, World’s First Children’s Capital of Culture (??!!), and Ethnic African Muslim father is from Sudan, one of the countries famous for slaughtering Christians and burning down their churches.
A VOTE FOR REFORM is a VOTE FOR THE CALIPHATE.
Farage is a despicable, dishonourable, lying, egomaniacal, self-serving politician. Surely there is enough information about him now for everyone to realise that, and not vote for any party he and his equally unpleasant co-owner Yusef are involved in. There are other Polls that put Farage at 7% even that is far higher than he should be.
Well what a pity the man is a charlatan and will never cross the finishing line. He’s shown by his treatment of his hitherto greatest asset – Rupert Lowe – that he’s as shallow as a puddle after the sun’s been out for a couple of hours and that he’s incapable of building a team around him. Who on earth would he have in his cabinet? Let’s hope we have some time for an alternative to emerge before the next GE. Ask yourselves why they would want to bring in NDAs for branch officials? What are they trying to hide? I’m sure you’ve seen me post on here previously that I was a branch Treasurer for Reform but I won’t vote for them now whilst Farage & Yusuf are at the helm. I’d rather vote Monster Raving Loony Party or spoil my ballot paper.
Good for you…..it was his behaviour towards Tommy, that damned him, for me.
“Ipsos reveals that when asked who would do a “good job as Prime Minister”, Farage comes out on top on 28%. Keir Starmer is 1% behind,”
Keir Starmer is just 1% behind? That’s not reassuring. Who are these mindless blobs who think Starmer is doing a “good job”?
I despair.
Government employees and SS benefit winners.