The Hungarian leader Viktor Orban was facing mounting international criticism last night after forcing through sweeping Coronavirus emergency powers that leave him able to ‘rule by decree’.

The new measures, which impose a state of emergency without time-limits and include five-year jail terms for spreading disinformation about Covid-19, were rammed through the Hungarian parliament yesterday despite protest by opposition groups.

Human rights groups and the 47-country Council of Europe, Europe's main rights forum, all condemned the legislation as excessive, warning that it risked permanently entrenching Mr Orban in power.

The government has rejected the criticism, arguing that the special powers could be instantly revoked by Hungary’s parliament.

“This is an authorisation limited both in time and scope ... as it is solely related to the coronavirus and you are crying a dictatorship,” the country’s state secretary Bence Retvari told the opposition parties before the vote.