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The Government will keep additional coronavirus powers for another six months – even after lockdown has ended.
The Coronavirus Act, initially introduced at the start of the pandemic, gives ministers the power to shut down schools and introduce a range of social restrictions.
It also allows police to break up large social gatherings and force people to get coronavirus tests.
On Thursday, March 25, MPs voted 484 to 76, majority 408, to extend the Covid laws.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock earlier said that he could not guarantee whether the rules may be scrapped within six months.
He told the House of Commons: "I cannot answer whether we will be retiring it in six months.
"My preference would be yes, but given the last year, I think a prediction would be hasty."
The Government insisted that the laws will not affect its roadmap out of lockdown.
Ahead of the vote, Prime Minister Boris Johnson also defended No 10's approach.
He said: "The libertarian in me is also trying to protect people's fundamental right to life and their ability to live their lives normally.
"And the only way really to restore that for everybody is for us to beat the disease and the best path to freedom is down the cautious but irreversible road map that we've set out – that's what the freedom lover wants."
However, Tory MP Graham Brady told the Commons: “The danger is the Government starts to believe that these fundamental civil liberties belong to ministers to grant to us or withhold.”
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He asked: “Does the Government have the right to tell people whether they can see their children or their grandchildren, whether they can start a relationship with someone? My answer is an emphatic no.”
Mark Harper, the former chief whip who chairs the lockdown-sceptic Covid Recovery Group, also said he was opposed to the Act's "very significant draconian powers" being extended.
Meanwhile, the European Union's leaders were meeting to decide whether to impose tougher restrictions on the export of vaccines from the bloc amid concerns about the relatively slow pace of vaccination in the 27 countries compared to the UK.
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Johnson said the UK is "going to keep working with our EU partners and our friends" as diplomatic efforts continue to avoid exports destined for the UK being kept by the bloc.
The PM also sought to calm fears over the possible introduction of coronavirus health certificates
He earlier hinted that landlords might demand proof of vaccination before customers can enter pubs.
Johnson later acknowledged the "moral complexities" around a domestic vaccine passport scheme and suggested that it might only be possible to introduce one after all adults had been offered a vaccine at the end of July.
- Coronavirus
- Lockdown
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