Английская Википедия:Emergency Powers Act 1920

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Шаблон:Use dmy dates Шаблон:Use British English Шаблон:Infobox UK legislation The Emergency Powers Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5. c. 55) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that gave the Sovereign power, in certain circumstances, to declare a state of emergency by proclamation. The Act also authorised emergency regulations to be issued by Order in Council.

Passed during the time in office of the Lloyd George Coalition Government, the Act made permanent the powers of the war-time Defence of the Realm Acts. The Act did not apply to Ireland, where due to the War of Independence the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act 1920 was already in force.

Overview

The exact grounds for such a proclamation by the monarch are defined in the Act as:

Upon a proclamation, Parliament must meet within five days and the Act gave His Majesty in Council, by Order, to make regulations to secure the 'essentials of life to the community' and gave the relevant Secretaries of State the power for the 'preservation of the peace' and the 'essentials of life' as defined above. Such regulations would be laid before Parliament as soon as they were pronounced and would expire in seven days, unless Parliament decided otherwise, of being laid before Parliament. A proclamation of this sort could be in force for no more than one month.

Anyone who broke these regulations, the Act says:

The Act forbade regulations which amounted to 'compulsory military service or industrial conscription' and ruled out regulations which would forbid 'any person or persons to take part in a strike, or peacefully to persuade any other person or persons to take part in a strike'. Regulations could not allow punishment by either fine or prison without trial.

Use of the Act

The Act was first put into use in 1921 when the Triple Alliance (a predecessor of the TUC) was requested by the Miners' Federation of Great Britain to join a strike over a wage dispute. The Lloyd George government declared a state of emergency and sent troops to the striking miners' areas. On 15 April the partners in the Triple Alliance declined to join the strike, which became known as 'Black Friday'.

The Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald was temptedШаблон:Citation needed to use the Act in 1924 when the dockers and tramwaymen went on strike. The Act was extensively used during the General Strike of 1926, after a state of emergency was proclaimed on 30 April 1926 on account of the "cessation of work in coal mines" and emergency regulations were promulgated therewith and continued in force long after the general strike had ceased. The use of the Act has been described as instrumental in the successful resolution of the strike in the government's favour.

Also, during 1948 and 1949 there were lengthy unofficial strikes, particularly in the docks, so the Labour Attlee government implemented this Act to proclaim a state of emergency and used soldiers as strike-breakers by getting them to unload boats in London, Liverpool and Avonmouth. The Conservative government used the Act during the 1955 rail strike and it was also used by Labour under Harold Wilson during the seamen's strike of 1966.

During the Conservative government of Edward Heath there were five declarations of emergency under this Act, by far the most any government. The first was in July 1970 over a dockers strike, the second in December 1970 over an electricians strike, the third in February 1972 over a miners strike, the fourth in August 1972 over another dockers strike and the fifth time in October 1973, which lasted for four months.

In the total time it was on the statute book this Act was used twelve times, the last time being in 1974 and mainly used in times of industrial unrest (i.e. strikes).

This Act was amended by the Emergency Powers Act 1964 and superseded by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

Form of proclamation

The proclamation of emergency made under the Act in the case of the General Strike was as follows: Шаблон:Cquote

In popular culture

The second episode of Ken Loach's series Days of Hope (1975) is set during the use of the emergency powers in 1921 in the Durham coalfield. The army are shown as using their powers to harass suspected Communists and their families, and to confiscate food sent as donations to feed striking miners.

In Episode 5 of Season 3 of The Crown, Lord Louis Mountbatten cites the 1920 Emergency Powers Act in the scene in which he meets with organizers of a possible coup d'état against the then Prime Minister, Harold Wilson. On the occasion, he considers the Queen's powers and role vis-à-vis society, the Armed Forces and the legal system in a possible proclamation of national emergency to be central to the success of his plans.