Ghazi on UKCLA Blog

3 February 2025

Congratulations to PhD student member Tasneem Ghazi, who has had her post ‘Political Accountability for the Abuse of Guidance: Comparing English and Irish Guidance during the Coronavirus Lockdown’ published in the UK Constitutional Law Association’s blog. Ghazi’s post examines the use of non-statutory guidance by the governments of Ireland and the UK to restrict people’s liberty during the COVID-19 pandemic. She argues that both governments used guidance to subject the public to stricter measures than the law itself provided for. To address this situation, Ghazi echoes the suggestions made by UK parliamentary committees: non-statutory guidance that restricts personal liberty must distinguish between mere advice and provisions that have the force of law, reference the relevant laws, and be subject to parliamentary accountability.