|
|
 |
| |
Kill the Bill don't kill off Parliament
• An extremely disturbing government proposal is going
through Parliament. The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill
threatens to destroy 700 years of British democracy as it gives
ministers the power to change or replace any law, without requiring
detailed scrutiny by Parliament.
The Bill can be used to change any existing legislation, from
Magna Carta to the Local GovernmentActs. The Bill can even be
applied to itself.
The government is pushing this Bill through under the guise
of de-regulation; however, the bill makes no mention of deregulation.
It also lacks any meaningful safeguards to prevent abuse. The
only protection we have is that the government have stated that
they will not misuse it. What about the next government or the
one after that? Oliver Heald MP for Hertfordshire North East
and Shadow Constitutional Affairs Secretary, who is leading
opposition against the Bill, has said: “There is no better
time than now for concerned citizens to write to their Member
of Parliament, protesting about this Legislative and Regulatory
Reform Bill. What the government has come up with goes way beyond
what is needed. The government say they have ‘wider ambitions’.
We wonder what they are.”
The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Greens oppose the Bill.
More than 1,700 people have registered their objections via
the Save Parliament campaign (www.saveparliament.org.uk), and
more are joining every day.
I would like to urge your readers to join the campaign, and
write to their MP as soon as possible. If the government does
not amend the Bill to limit its power, it cannot be allowed
to become law. It is simply too wide-ranging, and gives this
and all future governments far too much power, undermining Parliament
and threatening the foundation of democracy in the UK.
Val Stevenson
Allcroft Road
NW5
|
|
|
|
