Take 2: Draft Governance of Britain – Constitutional Renewal Bill March 27, 2008
Posted by James in Politics.Tags: constitutional renewal bill, lrra
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Just when you thought it was safe to go back into Westminster…
By the time it passed, the “Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act” was no longer a bill to abolish Parliament, thanks to a load of changes made during the parliamentary process. However, we aren’t safe yet. They are at it again, it seems.
The “Draft Governance of Britain – Constitutional Renewal Bill” has started going through the process, and some of the old abolition of parliament language is back. Part 6 appears to include the old language allowing minsters to “amend, repeal or revoke” any Act, without full debate in Parliament, once again. The “super-affirmative” procedure required to make such changes under the LRRA has disappeared, apparently.
We’ve not had time yet to do a full analysis of the implications of this new bill, but Spy Blog has a pretty good writeup in the meantime.
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The amending quote you refer to is only for orders made under subsection (1), which quite clearly states it is only for things needed as a consequence of the Act itself. I see Head of Legal has posted about this here: http://headoflegal.blogspot.com/2008/03/whats-consequential-and-whats.html This is a completely standard clause – look at section 63 of the Health Act 1999: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts1999/ukpga_19990008_en_9 – that lets a Minister amend or repeal any enactment too!
[...] recent reports, originating on Spy Blog, but spreading as far as the House of Commons chamber and this very blog that a new Bill has a clause as dangerous as the old Legislative and Regulatory Reform [...]
This turned out to be a false alarm – see our later post http://bill111.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/constitutional-renewal-bill-is-safe-after-all/