Destroy the Abolish Parliament Bill

Campaign and post shamelessly ripped of serfs efforts over at Right Links

Background

In Last Year’s Queens Speech, the Following Bill was mentioned:
The Regulatory Reform Bill

Its purpose?
Legislation will be introduced to streamline regulatory structures and make it simpler to remove outdated or unnecessary legislation.

It sounds so innocuous doesn’t it? After all, who could complain about a simpler method of removing outdated or unnecessary regulation?

Funnily enough though, when the Bill reached Parliament, it had become the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill, and seems to have very little to doing with Regulatory Reform.

Background Reading

The Bill Can be read here.


The Explanatory Notes are here.

The Law Commission plays an important role in the functioning of this bill.

The Law Commission

Its Role and Relationship with the Government

Courtesy of Nosemonkey we have found a report on this Law by
Clifford Chance. So its not just ignorant Bloggers making noises.

What Can You Do?

So we prepared a list of questions, which we ask every concerned Blogger to post on their Blogs. You may use any or all of the questions freely. Obviously a link back would be appreciated.

We also encourage every one of you to write to your MP and ask those questions that you personally find most troubling or simple include all of them.

Writing To Your MP
How to write to your MP. Click on this Link, and it will take you to “Write To Them” a website that has automated the task of mailing all of your representatives. Simply follow their instructions.
As always, we are very interested to know what MPs have to say on the matter.

Concerned Bloggers
The following page has links to all the Blog postings on the subject of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill. If you know of any more, please let me know.

Linking Back

If you wish to have a banner or Button for the campaign, They can be found here.

Now these are the questions we want answered. It is importasnt to remember that we need a technical / legal answer to these. A mere assurance that it wouldn't be used in a particular way is worthless.

Thirteen Unlucky Questions:

Why does the Bill change the current procedures for the enactment into our law of EU legislation?

What guarantees are there that the Bill could not be used to bring in the EU Constitution by the back door?

If the Bill is just a simplifying measure for deregulation, why does it contain no requirement for any orders to actually reduce the amounts of red tape and regulation?

Why does the Bill give the power to create new law, including new criminal offences, to the Law Commissions, which are unelected quangos appointed by Ministers?

If the Law Commissions are supposed to be staffed by impartial technical experts, why are Ministers taking the power to amend the recommendations of the Law Commissions before they are fast-tracked into legislation?

Why do protections in the Bill against new laws to permit forcible entry, search, seizure or compelling people to give evidence not apply to reforms recommended by the unelected Law Commissions appointed by Ministers?

If the Bill allows Ministers to “amend, repeal or replace legislation in any way that an Act might”, does this not give them an unlimited power to ignore a democratic Parliament and legislate by decree?

If the Bill is so sensible, why has Parliament used a different way of making laws for 700 years?

If the Bill is meant to retain Parliament’s ability to scrutinise regulations and regulators, why does it not contain a provision for automatic sunset clauses in orders issued under the Bill?

If the Bill gives Ministers powers to charge fees by decree, is that not a charter to bring in unlimited stealth taxes?

As the Bill permits an order to be made by a Minister under the Bill provided its effect is “proportionate” to his “policy objective”, since when in our history as a democratic country has a Government Minister’s “policy objective” directly received the force of law?

What guarantees are there that the Bill could not be used to bring in ID Cards by the back door?

Why does the Bill give the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly a veto over Ministers’ power to change the law which it denies to English MPs?



If they can't answer these questions, why should we trust them with more power?