Opposition to the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006

This page is part of the campaign to Save the Epping Forest Act.

The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 essentially gives any Minister the power to amend any piece of legislation as they please.

Description in Wikipedia.

See here for notes on how the Act operates and has been used in the past.

0.1  Main points

• The 2006 Act was described in the Press at the time as “the Bill to end all Bills” and the “Abolition of Parliament”. It was compared to the actions of King Henry VIII and Adolf Hitler. The entire Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties opposed it, along with six Labour rebels. The Coalition Goverment promissed to sweep away anti-democratic legislation of this kind.

0.2  Opposition within Parliament

The Bill was debated in the House of Commons on the 15 and 16 May 2006, after which it was given its Third Reading.

In the final vote, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and all of the minor parties voted solidly against the Bill, as did these Labour MPs:

• Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North),
• Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North),
• Peter Kilfoyle (Liverpool, Walton),
• Robert Marshall-Andrews (Medway),
• John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) and
• Robert Wareing (Liverpool, West Derby).

The following other Labour MPs had voted against their party in previous divisions concerning the Bill:

• Mark Fisher (Stoke-on-Trent Central),
• Lynne Jones (Birmingham, Selly Oak),
• John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington),
• Alan Simpson (Nottingham South).

0.3  Opposition from the Press

Daniel Finkelstein, The Times, 15 February 2006.

Who wants the Abolition of Parliament Bill? David Howarth, The Times, February 21, 2006

Red tape law ’must not be abused’, BBC, 6 Feb 2006

Labour isn’t wicked - but it’s doing just what the Nazis did, Danny Kruger, The Telegraph, 27 March 2006

How we move ever closer to becoming a totalitarian state, Henry Porter, The Observer, 5 March 2006

0.4  Opposition from Lawyers

Three more reasons to be depressed, Joshua Rozenberg, 09 Feb 2006, Telegraph

David Pannick, QC in The Times, 28 February 2006, A practising barrister at Blackstone Chambers in the Temple and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.

Six Cambridge law professors, Letters to the Editor, The Times, February 16, 2006: J. R. Spencer QC, Sir John Baker QC, David Feldman, Christopher Forsyth, David Ibbetson and Sir David Williams QC.

Legislative reform Bill grants powers too great for government, Letters to the Editor, The Times, 23 Feb 2006, from Sir Jeremy Lever QC and George Peretz, Monckton Chambers, Gray’s Inn, London WC1

0.5  Opposition from others

Save Parliament.

The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill must die!, Tim Ireland, Bloggerheads, 8 March 2006.

Greens attack "Abolition of Parliament" Bill, 18 March 2006

This document was translated from L^AT_EX by H^EV^EA.