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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: 2) by choose another one on Wednesday September 13 2017, @01:28PM (1 child)
Actually they are a standard way of _not_ doing business in UK parliament, delegating business the MPs can't be bothered to do out to some committee or other (or ministers) :-)
What the opposition are keen not to point out is that without this bill, huge swathes of UK laws will simply cease to exist when the Article 50 clock runs out.
I think the Tories should have presented two options - (1) where there is a timetable for parliament to debate and pass all the necessary laws to patch the gap, which will probably require MPs to work 70+hr weeks for 50+ weeks of the year (and that probably wouldn't be enough), and (2) where some of the required legislation is delegated out. I think I know which option would succeed then...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PiMuNu on Wednesday September 13 2017, @01:46PM
Well,
* passing a bill requires a boolean (either the law is passed or the law is not passed) so you can't really "present two options".
* letting MPs make such a choice runs the risk that the opposition vote for the impractical solution to poison the Tory brexit, and then blame the government for cocking it up.