Today’s elections mean it’s a good time to bury stories, and as such, details of the government’s amendments to the Legislative and Regultory Reform (Abolition of Parliament) Bill have trickled out of the Cabinet Office. The full text of the amendments can be found here (.pdf) – they are most likely worthy of close examination…
Nosemonkey's EUtopia
In search of a European identity
the today programme covered it early this morning( about 7.30-ish I think), so the climb down hasn't passed by totally unnoticed
Ah, but is it actually a climb-down? It's so complexly-worded it's very hard to tell – but does seem to retain a lot of worrying parts of the original in only very vaguely modified forms. I wouldn't be at all surprised that, on close examination, the concessions are limited and the wording still so vague that no real restrictions have been introduced.
In my opinion they have been forced to clarify their intent. The new version is just as odious, but we are now no longer distracted by the civil liberties implications. It now says that any law that gets in the way of business profit can be struck down without further consideration.
So, for example, if the 9 hours a day limit imposed on HGV drivers affects the profits of Eddie Stobart, they can strike it out without consideration for the increased rate of death on the roads. This is Gordon Brown's new new idea of risk-based regulation. He believes that Eddie Stobart doesn't want his truck drivers crashing anyway, so there is no need to apply any such regulation because the trucking companies can work out the rules themselves to attain this result. They never cut corners.