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Legislative & Regulatory Reform Act

the silent slip to authoritarianism

Save Parliament - the campaign against the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act - Details of the Act, links and action you can take

Campaign Against the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill - blog

Outline of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill - From Wikipedia

Copy of the Bill

Explanitory notes to the Bill

Articles

New bill will not halt stifling of UK business - Opinion: Alan Jenkins, chairman, Eversheds - The Lawyer.com -

UK business is drowning in a sea of regulation that is choking the entrepreneurial spirit which is at the very heart of the nation.

Since the Labour Government came to power in 1997, it is estimated that new legislation has cost UK business £50bn.

Lords condemn 'constitutionally questionable' bill - Politics.co.uk - The government got it "badly wrong" when it attempted to "gold-plate" ministers' power through a new bill designed to cut regulation, the head of a Lords committee has warned. - June 06

"Labour backs down over regulatory reform bill safeguards" - Tania Branigan - The Guardian - " The government is to write new safeguards into a controversial bill giving ministers sweeping powers to change the law after Labour's chief whip in the Lords warned it would otherwise face defeat.

Critics claimed the legislative and regulatory reform bill would allow the government to change almost any law it wished - even introducing new criminal offences or altering the constitution - without scrutiny"

"John Pilger sees freedom die quietly" - John Pilger - New Statesman - "The new bill marks the end of true parliamentary democracy; in its effect, it is as significant as the US Congress last year abandoning the Bill of Rights"

"We're teetering on the brink of an elective dictatorship" - By Simon Heffer - The Daily Telegraph - "Parliament and the British public must demand a straight answer to a straight and vital question: what is so wrong with our democracy that Labour wishes so ruthlessly to end it?"

"Blair's inner circle and its ferocious grab for power - From forcing through ID cards to the erosion of parliamentary scrutiny, a determined clique is hijacking our democracy" - Jenni Russell - The Guardian

"Titanic Bill to sink Parliament" - Corporate Watch

"How I woke up to a nightmare plot to steal centuries of law and liberty" - Daniel Finkelstein - The Times - " The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill isn’t just a dangerous proposal. It is a flashing red light."

"How we move ever closer to becoming a totalitarian state - The Prime Minister claims to be defending liberty but a barely noticed Bill will rip the heart out of parliamentary democracy" - Henry Porter - The Observer

An incompetent, not sinister, Bill - Peter Riddell - The Times

Reform Bill could spark the 'abolition of Parliament', says MP - Jonathan Walker - The Birmingham Post - The Government was accused of planning the "abolition of Parliament" with legislation giving Ministers sweeping powers to change the law.

"From red tape to carte blanche" - The Daily Mail

"Lawyers wary as new Legislative Reform Bill expands Govt powers" - The Lawyer - " Lawyers have expressed concern that the new Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill will give the Government unprecedented powers to make and change UK laws at will."

"Labour isn't wicked - but it's doing just what the Nazis did" - By Danny Kruger - The Daily Telegraph - "The Regulatory Reform Bill is an Enabling Act, identical in spirit to the one the Nazis passed in 1933. On that occasion, Hitler promised that "the government will make use of these powers only insofar as they are essential for carrying out vitally necessary measures..."

"Leading lawyer attacks Blair's 'insidious' human rights reforms" - By Barney Henderson - The Times - " The Government has skirted over its significance, but this bill will enable politicians to change the law without the House of Commons. It's centralism gone mad, saying there is no need for a debate, no need for opposition." - Michael Mansfield QC

"Bit fishy to blame apathy on voters" - Brian Moneith - The Scotsman - " As if the general duplicity and untrustworthiness of political charlatans is not enough to put voters off, we now have a very low-key Bill going through Parliament that is guaranteed to devalue the effectiveness of our parliaments and therefore the value in voting at all"

"MPs need a veto" - The Guardian - "the bill extends ministerial powers to rewrite laws and make new ones without the troublesome business of securing parliamentary approval."

"New powers for ministers are a mistake, PM told" - By Melissa Kite - Daily Telegraph - " Lord Grocott, the government chief whip in the Lords, has expressed serious doubts about the safety of a Bill allowing ministers to change the law without a vote."

"Fear over plans to cut red tape" - BBC report - "New laws on red tape would give ministers free rein to change laws without consulting Parliament, opponents have claimed"

 

The Political Parties views on the LRR Bill

The Green Party - "Greens attack "Abolition of Parliament" Bill - Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill is "despotism"

Labour Party - Nothing on their website

Conservative Party - A speech from Oliver Heald, shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster - "Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill needs Sunset Clause"

Liberal Democratic Party - Article by David Howarth MP from the Times