Monaco resident Simon Dolan is challenging the legality of the UK’s coronavirus lockdown, saying that the measure could kill more people than it saves.
Mr Dolan (50) has told the UK government that he will take it to court on the grounds that the lockdown was both legally defective and disproportionate in law. He is also seeking minutes of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) meetings this year, which have been in the headlines during the past week.
He has put the health secretary on notice that he intends to issue proceedings for a judicial review, unless the government reverses some of the lockdown measures and reinstates freedom of movement.
The author of a book called How to Make Millions Without a Degree, he is seeking to restore the public’s right to decide for themselves if they want to visit friends, go to work or stay indoors, according to a crowd-funding page. Mr Dolan runs a chartered airline business in Essex and employs 600 people across 10 companies.
He said on Friday that he has offered to “consider not issuing proceedings if serious, alternative, less draconian suggested restrictions were imposed”.
“The lockdown is telling us to stop living to avoid dying,” he said. “To imprison people in their homes is an extremely dramatic decision to make. It is unprecedented and it would have been a brave Boris to say ‘no, we are not going to do that’, but it has gone on too long now, and we need to lift it or loosen it.
“Too many people are losing their jobs; people can’t get cancer treatment, there is suicide, domestic violence. Why are we prevaricating? It’s like the government is now keeping this going to justify their original decision, whereas what they should do is say we did this and now we are doing something different.”
PHOTO: Simon Dolan
