Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act
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Central Lobby
Contents |
What the Bill does
 Our View Don't be fooled by the dull title; this Bill proposes a radical shift the balance of power from the legislature and the executive. The Regulatory Reform Committee considered that the Bill has the potential to be the most constitutionally significant Bill that has been brought before Parliament for some years and the Constitution Committee has expressed its concern at the unprecedentedly wide powers the Bill seeks to confer on Ministers. |
This Bill would enable Ministers to pass laws with virtually no parliamentary scrutiny. It gives enormous unchecked power to the executive and fundamentally changes the way we make laws. Under this Bill almost any law could be amended, repealed or replaced: the powers of the House of Lords could be changed; local government could be reorganised or even abolished. All this could potentially take place without a debate in Parliament.
The Bill is part of the Government's better regulation agenda and aims to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses and public services. The Government argues that the current process for removing legislative burdens is ineffective and that unless the process is changed many of the proposals the departments have for cutting red tape will not be able to be implemented. This Bill, it is argued, will make it quicker and easier to tackle unnecessary or over-complicated regulation and help bring about a risk-based approach to regulation.
This may well be how the Government intends to use these powers. They have repeatedly given assurances that they would not use this Bill to pass highly controversial measures. But the fact remains that there is nothing in this Bill to stop them. Future Governments may not be so scrupulous and would certainly not be bound by such assurances. As Alan Williams MP said in the second reading debate 'I welcome assurances but in Parliamentary terms, there is no assurance as good as and assurance written into the Bill'
The Bill's Progress
Responsible Department
Cabinet Office
House of Commons stages
Introduced: 11 Nov 2005
Second reading: 9 Feb 2006
Committee stage: 28 Feb, 7 & 9 March 2006
Report stage: 15,16 May 2006
House of Lords stages
First reading: 17 May 2006
Second reading: 13 June 2006
Committee stage: 11, 19 & 25 July 2006
Third Reading 1st November
Royal Assent 8th November
October 2006
Speaking in a debate on the 26 October about the power to reduce or remove burdens, Lords Desai said
June 2006
Although the House of Lords did not vote on the second reading debate concerns were raised about the scope of the bill to:
- Automatically implement some Law Commission recommendations
- Amend the Human Rights Act
- Amend the first part of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill itself
- Implement EU directives
From the 63 powers detailed in the first draft of this controversial bill, 27 are still intact. It is expected that the Lords will do much to curb its powers during the remaining stages of the bill.
May 2006
The Government has published a number of amendments to the LRRB which can be found here
The amendments to include measures to:
- Specify how the ordermaking powers in Clause 1 of the current Bill to will only be used to deliver better regulatory outcomes
- Provide a statutory veto on the face of the Bill to be exercised by relevant Committees in both Houses of Parliament
- Extend the period Parliament has to determine which scrutiny procedure should apply to an order is extended from 21 to 30 days
- Bring current and future regulatory activity in line with the Better Regulation Commission's five principles of good regulation: that regulation should be proportionate, accountable, consistent, transparent and targeted.
These amendments are a very welcome clarification of the Government's intentions in proposing this Bill but we would argue they do not go far enough.
The veto power is an essential safeguard but it is by definition a very crude tool. Currently two Parliamentary Committees are able to scrutinise the order details and suggest amendemnts to an order rather thann just veto it. This is far more effective governance than the short cuts the Government is proposing.
Fundamentally, the Government have failed to appreciate the point made by the Regulatory Reform Committee that the delays in passing Regulatory Orders at the moment are not as a result of Parliamentary scrutiny.
Select Committee Reports
A number of Select Committees have investigated this controversial Bill.
The House of Lords Constitution Committee examined the constitutional aspects of thhe Bill and wwrote to the Government to epres its concern.
Links
Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill
The New Politics Networks briefing
House of Commons Library Research Paper
Regulatory Committee report on the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill
