Comments on: Parliament is stymied again

By: John Wrexham

John Wrexham — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 02:20:55 +0000

The best thing the Conservatives could do when they get into government is to abolish the ‘guillotine’ in the House of Commons (along with a stack of other reforms). As I am sure John Redwood would agree, there is far too much legislation and much of it does not achieve what it was set out to achieve (viz the never ending stream of Criminal Justice Acts). Instead the fact that a Government would actually have to persuade Parliament and its MPs to turn up and vote for or vote against amendments might help concentrate a few minds in Downing Street and Whitehall beforehand rather than after as is too often the case. (The guillotine was only brought in to deal with the Irish Nationalists in the 19th century, but somehow like all bad laws seems to have hung around for rather a long time.)

By: Steven Baker

Steven Baker — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:08:28 +0000

I am beyond incensed on this subject. People should be able to get on with making a living without governments destroying democracy and threatening liberty, not to mention grotesquely wasting our money while doing it.

Nearly eight hundred years ago, it was clear that protection from the state was required and Magna Carta was signed, yet today, we cannot be assured that our representatives will be allowed properly to debate criminal justice. Further, we find the Prime Minister attempting to mislead the public as the Government furthers it’s plans to trample our privacy, a privacy it demonstrably cannot protect:

http://www.no2id.net/news/pressRelease/release.php?name=Evasive_Brown

My response is to get involved and to seek election as an MP. There seems little point pursuing my business aims in a country being ruined, even destroyed, through systematic, bare-faced deception, democratic abuse and disrespect of the rights of the individual.

Conservative, of course. And John, I am sorry I did not pay attention sooner.

By: haddock

haddock — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:48:18 +0000

I watched part of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill on television; I think there were about six on the government benches.
They were ‘debating’ my right to protect myself and my property ( which incidentally is a right I have as an Englishman and is not in the gift of parliament ). It is the sort of thing that shows us, as voters, just how little our representatives care of our concerns.
Why bother debating ?, we have a Dictatorship in everything but name; the scraps of legislation left to our parliament is decided by a dictatorship of the whip system; the rest by the manic and corrupt voting system of our real dictators in Brussels.

By: NotaSheep

NotaSheep — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:09:28 +0000

Well said, the lack of respect for democracy shown by Tony Blair and now Gordon Brown is absolutely breathtaking. I am sure that the BBC will be producing an in-depth investigation very soon… maybe not.

By: rob

rob — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:41:14 +0000

Erm, that should read diktats sorry for the fat fingers on the keyboard.

By: rob

rob — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:36:28 +0000

Alas,
The once great British Parliament is already a poodle. The EU rules supreme and the national government’s position is to simply rubber stamp its dikats.

By: Simon_C

Simon_C — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:49:08 +0000

I’m always interested to hear your continuing thoughts on the way Parliament is being hadled by the executive. It seems we have some kind of constitutional problem building up.

As someone with no formal education in politics it seems to me that the core of the problem here is that we have the position of a PM who is supposed to lead the cabnet in team decision making.

But, the position has been changed by successive leaders over the last 25 years into a more presedential one. But, one where the executive still has the power to dictate the way the Parliament discusses the executive’s proposals. Perhaps there are always similar problems where the executive and legislative are ran by the same party. The problem is that in our system the two are always inextricably linked rather than loosly linked.

By: Ian Evans

Ian Evans — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:43:17 +0000

The contempt with which ‘our’ government treats Parliament is breathtaking. Where has our much vaunted Democracy gone?

This sort of treatment of the democratic process explains, at least partly, why so few people bother to vote nowadays. Please, please, please, when the Conservatives win the next election, will the new government show some real Respect for democracy and for the people of this country?!

By: mikestallard

mikestallard — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 07:45:23 +0000

I am so sorry to hear this.
I woke up to the glorious news that all the Secondary Schools in Peterborough (large immigrant population of all different people) are going to be thrown into one huge one and that they are closing - despite excellent results - this year.
My hometown will be a no go area in about five years time, I suggest.

The local parliament is now being brought into line with the European parliament, I see.