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from the returning-sovereignty-to-parliament dept.
A controversial motion that will grant the government the power to force through Brexit legislation has been passed.
[...] It means the Conservatives, despite not winning a majority at the general election, will take control of a powerful Commons committee, and grant themselves the power to force through legislation without it being voted on or debated in parliament.
With parliament needing to change, amend or import wholesale thousands of laws and regulation to prepare the UK for its exit from the European Union, the EU Withdrawal Bill has been designed to allow for new laws and regulations to be passed via controversial legislative device called a statutory instrument, which are debated in tiny standing committees.
But the government has now voted to give itself a majority on the little known Committee of Selection, which decides the make up of those committees, and in so doing has seized control of the whole process.
[...] Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Alistair Carmichael commented: "This is a sinister power grab by an increasingly authoritarian Prime Minister.
"The Tories didn't win a majority at the election, but are now hijacking Parliament to try and impose their extreme Brexit on the country.
"It is a bitter irony that Brexiteers who spent their careers championing parliamentary sovereignty have now chosen to sell it down the river.
Source: The Independent
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by HiThere on Wednesday September 13 2017, @06:09PM
"None of the above" should be on every ballot, but I agree, that the current voting systems are bad. And I can't think of a good one that isn't too easy to corrupt. So I think that rather than elections we should have a lottery open to all over the age of, say, 15. And if you get chosen you MUST serve, and then may never again accept payment from anyone except the government. (Pensions should be at twice the median income level.) (Banks storing your own money, or even offering you the same interest they offer anyone else, are not to be construed as paying you. Groups offering you a position of power or even just access to facilities that aren't open to everyone else ARE to be construed as paying you. You get a bonus for turning them in to prosecution.)
This, of course, would require restructuring things so that there was no single position with too much authority, as occasionally you'd get some real winners, but that's a good idea anyway.
This proposal accepts the comment "nobody who wants the job should be allowed to have it", and deals with the problem of corruption before achieving office. Also with corruption based on promised benefits after leaving office.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.