Clause 7 - Urgency
Civil Contingencies Bill
4:30 pm
Mr Douglas Alexander (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Cabinet Office; Paisley South, Labour)
I fully understand the hon. Gentleman's concern that Ministers should use the powers of direction under part 1 of the Bill, and the powers to make emergency regulations under part 2, in a reasonable fashion. I entirely agree with what the amendments are designed to achieve, but I must reject them, for reasons that I shall set out.
Amendment No. 19–amendment No. 26 in the case of Scotland–proposes a requirement that a Minister
''genuinely believes on reasonable grounds''
that there is an urgent need for directions. However, it is unnecessary expressly to require a Minister of the Crown or Scottish Ministers to act ''reasonably'', because it is a tenet of public law in this country that Ministers are bound to act reasonably. Furthermore, expressly to require that in this context could be dangerous. A court considering this legislation and another enactment that did not expressly require a Minister to act reasonably might legitimately infer that Parliament had intended to allow the Minister to act unreasonably.
I can understand why hon. Members think that emergency powers are a special case and that it is therefore appropriate to be as full and forthcoming in the Bill as possible, even if the provisions are strictly unnecessary. The Government accept that part 2 of the Bill will need to be used only in extremis and that there is merit in drafting this part of the Bill as transparently as possible, but if including unnecessary material in the Bill would potentially cast doubt on the interpretation of other enactments, it would not be appropriate to include it. That principle holds good for part 2, notwithstanding the nature of the Bill. Even an enactment such as the Human Rights Act 1998 does not at any stage expressly require a Minister to act reasonably. That explains the Government's position and why we reject the amendments.