tammaiya | *PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT*

sanguia has alerted me to something incredibly terrifying, particularly to those of you who live in the UK but to everyone who cares about democracy at all.

What is so terrifying? The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill that has been introduced into the British Parliament. If passed, it would allow ministers to independently amend or enact legislation without it going through either House. Yes, that's right, unilateral legislation. No debating, no votes, nothing. There are some restrictions, but these appear to be very minor and there is nothing preventing the Government from amending the proposed legislation itself with these new powers.

Now, I could rant here about how this undermines the principles of the common law-- which Australia inherited from England-- and about how the English Constitution lacks the safeguards of Australia or America or Canada because they TRUSTED their Parliaments to reflect the interests of the people and due to their history the framers of the English constitution valued Parliamentary supremacy and put less checks than other countries have. However, I'm not an expert on Constitutional law, especially not in England. I'm only studying the basics now, focussing on Australia. So instead, I will give you links that Eugenie gave me explaining what it is, why this is so frightening, etc.

This is the Bill itself: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmbills/111/06111.1-4.html
This LJ entry gives an overview, involving a comparison to Hitler's rise in power: http://oldmotherchaos.livejournal.com/65547.html
This is a letter from a number of Law professors from Cambridge: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,59-2042165,00.html
This article will give an idea of the current status of the Bill and its chances of passing: http://bill111.wordpress.com/
Another article discussing the effect of this kind of power on democracy: http://www.hoojum.com/LARRB/LARRB.html

I don't really know what anyone can do. I don't know enough about how these things work in England. I know that the House of Lords cannot strike down legislation on the grounds of unconstitutionality, but the EU Court has enforceable jurisdiction. If you're English, write letters to your local MP. If nothing else:

PLEASE. PASS THIS ON.

This issue is not getting the media attention it should. Do you want this kind of thing to go unnoticed? If we can do nothing else, at least we can make sure this gross undermining of democracy and human rights doesn't pass right under our noses.