Regulatory bill 'gives ministers too much power'

A bill to allow ministers to more easily remove redundant regulation gives the government far too much power to change the law, MPs warn today.

The legislative and regulatory reform bill, dubbed the 'parliamentary scrutiny (abolition) bill' by opposition parties, was introduced as a way of cutting regulation.

But there have been widespread concerns that it gives ministers power to change laws without proper parliamentary scrutiny – and today the public administration committee insists added safeguards must be included to assuage these fears.

The government has agreed to consider giving parliament a veto on the use of the powers in the bill, and this is welcomed in today's report.

But the MPs say more safeguards are needed – at the minimum, certain subjects and certain laws should be excluded, including the legislative and regulatory reform bill itself.

"If government wants broad powers, it must accept that some matters should be off limits," the committee says.

Currently, the bill only forbids ministers using the powers to increase taxation, create criminal offences with sentences of more than two years, authorise the forcible entry of property and compel people to give evidence to police or courts.

"We are not satisfied by the emphasis on government undertakings as a means of limiting the use of powers given by the bill," the report adds.

"Over the long term, it is all too easy for absolute undertakings to be broken, first because circumstances are exceptional, then because they are unusual, and finally because the undertaking itself has become obsolete."

Earlier this month, Cabinet Office minister Jim Murphy said some of the concerns about the bill – such as that it might be used to abolish the right to trial by jury and other constitutional arrangements – were "far-fetched".

However, he accepted changes were needed to make it more "focused" on its intended target of cutting regulation, and promised to table amendments to that effect.

Public administration committee chairman Tony Wright today said: "There are welcome signs that the government intends to make real improvements to the bill.

"I am delighted that the minister appears to have accepted that more safeguards are needed, but my colleagues and I will be scrutinising the government's proposals to ensure those safeguards are adequate."

Liberal Democrat spokesman David Heath MP welcomed today's report, saying: "Part one of the bill, which reduces parliamentary scrutiny so drastically, will have to be completely rewritten otherwise we will do all we can to stop this bill making progress."