Clause 1 - Purpose
Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill
4:00 pm
Oliver Heald (Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs & Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Assisted By Shadow Solicitor General), Constitutional Affairs; North East Hertfordshire, Conservative)
The Minister shakes his head. When he was talking about it he said that the Government could make only a minor change to a Law Commission proposal, and that anything more than that would mean that they were in breach of the law, so it could not happen. However, the Bill does not say that the change must be minor. That may be the Minister’s hope or intention. His idea may be that he does not want to make more than a minor change under the Bill. If so, the Bill should state it.
The point that the TUC made, and which has been made from both sides of the Committee, is that the Minister’s personal assurances apply to him. They do not even apply, in a sense, to the Government as a whole. If he were to move on to a different Department another Minister might decide that he did not totally agree with the way the relevant provision had been expressed; under the Bill, with no firm safeguard, that would be in the hands of the individual.
We are talking about making law for the future. As the TUC said, there might be a different Government in the future. That Government might not agree with the Minister about some of these points, so we need the Bill to say the right things. I am thinking of some of the other proposals that the Law Commission is considering, on tenants’ rights and on provocation in respect of the law of murder. In those areas, if a Minister did not agree with the Law Commission proposal and expanded what was proposed, that would be a very controversial measure and something that the House should consider, but it would not be considered properly by the House.
One matter that the Law Commission is considering is codification of the general principles of criminal law. Are the Government really saying that they should have the power to change general principles of the criminal law by order and to depart from the Law Commission recommendations and that we should not have a full say on that in the House of Commons? That would be deeply worrying. I hope that my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch will seek to divide the Committee on amendment No. 29, in respect of which the Minister seems to have no argument that he can advance to persuade the Committee of his view.
The key amendment, No. 20, and new clause 4 would focus the Bill on the purpose of deregulation and provide a vital safeguard. As my hon. Friends the Members for Christchurch and for Forest of Dean (Mr. Harper) said, constituents are concerned about the breadth of clause 1; it gives power to govern by ministerial fiat. The Minister says that he would not do that and he should be trusted. Fair enough, but we do not make law in the belief that one Minister will remain continuously in office. Even someone as ambitious as this Minister cannot believe that he will be a Cabinet Office Minister in, say, 100 years’ time, but this is the sort of law that will not be abolished.