The British government's emergency coronavirus laws introduced and break-neck pace during 2020 are "error-strewn" and causing confusion among the public, a human rights lawyer has said.

The use of emergency law-making powers by Boris Johnson's government in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic has allowed them to avoid parliamentary scrutiny, making the laws themselves full of avoidable mistakes.

That's according to Adam Wagner, who works at Doughty Street Chambers.

"Criminal laws that enforce the lockdown are brought in by a minister signing a piece of paper", he told the PA news agency, calling the emergency rules "totally opaque" and not at all transparent, and adding that this had led to a "democratic deficit".

Bypassing parliament has meant the government is now "not making very good laws", Wagner said, adding that as amendments to existing legislation have continued, they have become "more and more error-strewn".

Critics and legal figures have also raised concerns at the short time between the laws being published and enacted - in one instance the documents were published retrospectively, days after the Government said they were in force.

This leaves little time for the police to make sure they understand the rules and act proportionately when enforcing them, or for the public to know what is expected of them, he said.

The analysis arrived as the UK recorded its highest number of confirmed cases in a single day on Thursday — some 6,634 cases in total.

Mr Wagner said it was "extraordinary" that the full detail of vital laws that impinge on people's private lives in response to the pandemic were being made public "literally at the last minute", with the documents being published later and later into the night.

The latest laws, which came into force at 5am on Thursday, imposing a curfew on hospitality businesses and meaning people face higher fines for failing to wear a face mask, were published at around midnight.

"It's not good for anyone," said Mr Wagner.

He warned that the regulations were increasingly complicated and difficult to decipher for police, lawyers and the public alike, despite pledges from the Prime Minister for them to be simplified.

Mr Wagner said: "They have been confusing throughout but we are getting to the point where the regulations are so dense and long and have so many bits to amend.

"Lawyers have thrown their hands up in the air and have said 'we just don't know what they mean'.

"Police I have spoken to say they have just given up. They say there is no way they can enforce the rules like this."