Labour moves to Abolish Parliament (Scarborough and Whitby Liberal Democrats)

Scarborough and Whitby Liberal Democrats <info@scarboroughandwhitbylibdems.org.uk>

Labour moves to Abolish Parliament

March 12, 2006 12:13 PM

On Thursday 21 February, in an almost deserted chamber, the Government proposed an extraordinary Bill that will drastically reduce parliamentary discussion of future laws, a Bill some constitutional experts are already calling "the Abolition of Parliament Bill".

We are sleepwalking into a new and sinister world of ministerial power and it seems barely to have registered

The boring title of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill hides an astonishing proposal. It gives ministers power to alter any law passed by Parliament. The only limitations are that new crimes cannot be created if the penalty is greater than two years in prison and that it cannot increase taxation. But any other law can be changed, no matter how important. All ministers will have to do is propose an order, wait a few weeks and voila, the law is changed.

For ministers the advantages are obvious: no more tedious debates in which they have to answer awkward questions. Ministers will have to face at most a short debate in a committee and a one-and-a-half hour debate on the floor. No amendments will be allowed. The legislative process will be reduced to a game or take-it-or-leave-it.

The Government claims that there is nothing to worry about. The powers in the Bill, it says, will not be used for "controversial" matters. But there is nothing in the Bill that restricts its use to "uncontroversial" issues. The minister is asking us to trust him, and worse, to trust all his colleagues and all their successors. No one should be trusted with such power.

We trusted the government over Iraq and see where that has brought us.

If you want to find out more about this just look up the web site below and see a fuller account.

http://www.libdems.org.uk/parliament/feature