Clause 1 - Power by order to make provision reforming law which imposes burdens
Regulatory Reform Bill [Lords]
12:00 pm
Mr Andrew Lansley (South Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
Amendments Nos. 5 and 6 have different purposes that I will explain.
Amendment No. 5 follows on from our previous discussion. It is clear that the objective of the legislation is not just to remove burdens, but to reform legislation. I am sure that the Minister will say that reforming legislation is a wider objective than the creation, reduction or removal of burdens; it is intended to make legislation more accessible, simpler and more comprehensible. In seeking to anticipate and to deflect the Minister's argument, I point out that the phrase ``reforming legislation'' does not have—unless the Minister can tell me otherwise—a quasi-legal, technical meaning that demands it to mean simplification and comprehensibility.