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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: 5, Informative) by n1 on Wednesday September 13 2017, @05:04PM (2 children)
In context... The UK gov called an election, an election they said they were not going to call... Along with months of basically refusing to talk about any policy they had, except 'will of the people' in regard to the referendum... They lost their majority and mandate to govern, and are now continuing to refuse to talk about their policies or plans except in the vaguest of terms. Then took steps as seen here to undermine 'returning sovereignty to parliament' because it would take too long and require them to actually have a plan.
The referendum question was: Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?
This does not mention anything about: European Economic Area, European Court of Human Rights, Council of Europe as some examples.
To engage in hyperbole for a moment... 'Should the United Kingdom Bring Back the Death Penalty?' .... Yes.
Ok, well the question was answered and the will of the people says the death penalty is needed, nowhere does it say it's only for murder. So to follow the will of the people, the death penalty should be applied to all criminals, shoplifters, illegal parking of your car, failing to pay council tax. We don't need to debate or consider the nuances and ramifications of this, we had a referendum.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Thursday September 14 2017, @09:30AM (1 child)
Yes, but if the government pushed such a ridiculous policy, then I highly suspect the opposition would propose a bill to overturn it. It is highly likely that this bill would pass through parliament and become law.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday September 14 2017, @01:31PM
On this side of the pond we have that strategy down to a fine are, push some kind of knowingly unconstitutional act "mandatory teacher led Christian prayer in schools" or something, then the supreme court gets good boy points for striking it down and the pressure group that likes it gets good boy points for having tried really really hard although failing. Everyone "wins". Sometimes something good sticks around for awhile. Political stochastic annealing, kinda. Not necessarily bad, although mostly bad.