Put Paid to Democracy

[mishalak]

To celebrate the release of V for Vendetta her Majesty's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has decided to begin the elimination of democracy in the United Kingdom with the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill. It would allow the government to pass laws without the consent of parliament and to do as they please. To make the Norsefire Enabling Bill palatable to the commons is comes with the limit of only allowing the government to change laws already enacted and that doing so cannot create new crimes (if the penalty is more than two years in prison) and that it cannot increase taxation. However since the change provisions apply to the Dictatorial Rule Bill itself, the government could eliminate these provisions whenever it feels it necessary without any explanation. Not that allowing a government to change any law it pleases even with these restrictions is at all good.

If I thought this was at all funny I might be suggesting that my British friends move to America where democracy has problems, but not nearly this bad.

The Times Comentary by David Howarth, Liberal Democrat MP
Guardian Special Report
The Observer
The Bill Itself

Comments

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

Cor, you leave the country for 2 months, and they try and dispose of parliamentary democracy. I've rattled off a letter, but my MP's Tory, so it won't do much good.

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

Well... it may do some good. I would think that the Tories would be totally against it as long as their man isn't PM.

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

The Conservatives will vote against it, but what you need is Labour MPs to defy the whip.

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

Ah, good point. My brain had made weird assumptions about what you meant.

[murkee.livejournal.com]

I'm doing a roundup on this topic and will shortly be linking to this post from here:

http://www.murky.org/archives/current_affairs/uk_news/uk_politics/totalitarianism_bill/