Coronavirus

A politician in India has called on the Delhi High Court to suspend the government in the national capital and impose President's rule – direct control from the Centre – to address the humanitarian crisis unfolding there. Shoaib Iqbal, a senior member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly, s

The Scottish Human Rights Commission has set out the concerns and obligations that must be considered by the Scottish government in any moves to introduce so-called "vaccine passports". In a new briefing, the commission also makes nine recommendations to the government on how to proceed on Covi

The Crown Office has published data on the Covid deaths in care homes that have been reported to it. The prosecution service was considering at least 3,400 deaths linked to Covid-19 as of 8 April.

People across Scotland can make non-essential journeys in their local authority area from Friday 2 April when a requirement to Stay Local will replace the Stay at Home rule. Hairdressers, garden centres, car showrooms and forecourts, homeware stores and non-essential click and collect services will

The resilience fund set up to support legal practitioners during the Covid-19 pandemic is failing to deliver, Glasgow Bar Association (GBA) has warned. The association wrote to Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf and Community Safety Secretary Ash Denham yesterday to echo criticisms from the Edinburgh Ba

A parliamentary inquiry into the impact of Covid-19 on human rights has called on the Scottish government’s recovery plan to ensure that those people who have already experienced disproportionately negative effects as a result of the coronavirus crisis do not suffer further. The rights of wome

The UK government has been accused of an “utterly ridiculous” abuse of power for threatening to impose jail sentences of 10 years on travellers who break quarantine rules. Described as “misleading spin” that would never be enforced, by shadow attorney general Lord Falconer, t

Almost one third of prosecutions made under emergency coronavirus laws have been brought incompetently, leading to hundreds of cases being dropped. New analysis by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) found that 359 of 1,252 charges last year were either withdrawn or quashed in court.

Eric McQueen, chief executive of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS), has written to bar associations in response to a letter raising concerns about the implementation of Covid-19 protections in court and tribunal buildings. We reproduce his letter in full below. Thank you for your lett

The unpaid work element of community payback orders (CPOs) will be slashed by more than a third in most cases in order to ease pressure on local authorities during the Covid-19 pandemic. The new measures announced by the Scottish government will not include CPOs imposed for domestic abuse, sexual of

Mandy Laurie of Burness Paull explores whether employers can force employees to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. Since Margaret Keenan became the first person to receive the Pfizer vaccine in the UK, the rest of the nation has watched on as the introduction of two vaccines and the approval of a third h

Jodi Gordon, partner at Road Traffic Accident Law (Scotland) LLP, comments on the development of remote hearings during the Covid-19 pandemic. ‘Working from home’ has become the norm for so many of us over the last 10 months. There have been challenges along the way requiring both employ

Whether UK employers require staff to be vaccinated is a question that has been doing the rounds since the Pfizer vaccine became available. My experience is that clients start the discussion thinking that they might want to mandate, or very actively encourage employees to be vaccinated, but having h

Seven members of staff at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court are self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19. The Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS) said it was working with NHS Test and Protect and that those required to isolate are doing so.

A former lawyer detained for more than six months because she reported on the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan has been given a feeding tube so she can be force-fed after going on a hunger strike. Zhang Zhan, 37, was arrested in May and accused of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble”,