After the government openly admitted its plan to break international law, people are branding the Tories "hypocrites" for announcing a wave of lockdown laws for England on the same day.

It all started when Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis stood up in the House of Commons on Tuesday and confirmed the government’s plan to tweak the Brexit deal would be breaking international law:

Yes, this does break international law in a very specific and limited way.

Then Health Secretary Matt Hancock was asked if he was comfortable that a UK minister was willing to admit to wanting to break international law.

Hancock simply replied:

I am.

Hancock went on to try to justify breaking the international law in order not to disrupt peace in Northern Ireland.

Then came the announcement that England was implementing new lockdown laws about limiting social gatherings, starting on Monday.

The new law says social gatherings of more than six people at a time will be illegal, except for going to work, school, funerals, weddings and team sport.

The government expects the UK public to fully comply with this new rule.

In fact, Matt Hancock even told LBC on Wednesday morning that he expected university students to not socialise with more than six people at a time during Freshers week.

Hopefully people will follow these new rules, because they are ultimately designed to keep us all safe.

But at PMQs, Boris Johnson was quizzed on why the public should bother, if government ministers don't feel like the law applies to them.

People on social media are baffled that the government is "lecturing" them on following these new laws, but also admitting that they are planning to break international law.

To be clear: we urge people to follow all laws that are designed to keep us all safe during this time.

But can you blame people for being a bit irked that it feels like it's one rule for the government, and another for them?

Please log in or register to upvote this article
The Conversation (0)