Brexit leader Nigel Farage warned that lockdowns in the United Kingdom are pushing the country into a full-on police state, predicting that the battle to regain individual liberty will be a tougher struggle than leaving the European Union.
Mr Farage said that is unlikely that the British government will relinquish the emergency powers it has accumulated during the coronavirus crisis.
“Once the state takes power how on earth do we get those powers back? Do we have enough independently-minded MPs in Westminster to challenge the executive once we’re through this crisis to say those powers need to be returned, those liberties and freedoms need to go back to the people?”
“I’m beginning to think that the battle for our individual liberty could be an even bigger battle than the battle to get us out of the European Union,” Farage said.
“It is turning neighbour against neighbour, it is turning people against the police force, and it is not going to stop the spread of this virus,” he suggested.
Mr Farage pointed to a “very disturbing video from Scotland,” in which police burst into a family’s home and threatened them with arrest for allegedly breaching the coronavirus restrictions, when in fact the family’s “guest” was their sick daughter who was recently discharged from hospital.
“Behavior like this does not get citizens on the side supporting the police,” Farage said, adding: “it is going way, way too far.”
Mr Farage said that in the name of fighting the coronavirus, Britain is sacrificing its liberties and freedoms and that there “is a danger we could become something akin to a police state”.
On Wednesday, London’s Metropolitan Police Service announced that officers have been told to “issue fines more quickly” to those without “reasonable excuses” for being outside of for not wearing a mask.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said that she “completely back[s] the police” demanding to know why people are outside and asking people for proof for why they are out during the latest lockdown, which forbids leaving home except for essential purposes.
The elected police and crime commissioner for the West Midlands Police has also called upon the government to grant police the power to enter the homes of citizens who they believe are violating the lockdown without a warrant.
“For the small minority of people who refuse entry to police officers and obstruct their work, the power of entry would seem to be a useful tool,” said PCC David Jamieson.
Shortly after Mr Farage released the video in which he warned about the loss of liberty in Britain, Twitter permanently suspended the sitting President of the United States, Donald Trump.
In response to the move by the Silicon Valley tech giant, Mr Frage said that he was “shocked that the US President has been closed down by Twitter.”
“Not attending the inauguration is hardly encouraging violence. Free speech must win,” he said on Friday night.
On Monday morning, the long-time Trump ally added: “Censorship from Big Social Media and vindictiveness from the Democrats could backfire terribly.”
“Trump is the voice of tens of millions of Americans. Martyr him and far worse will follow,” Farage warned.
Twitter has also deleted tweets from the official @POTUS [President of the United States] account and locked it, presumably until it can be transferred to Joe Biden, and banned the @TeamTrump account, to halt the President’s efforts to communicate through them instead.
At least one of his email service providers has also reportedly deplatformed him, hindering his ability to communicate with supporters directly or potentially directing them to alternative social media platforms, such as Parler — which has itself just been removed from the Google Play app store and threatened with imminent removal by Apple.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here: @KurtZindulka
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