As we’re at the point of the political cycle where people appear to be demanding what should appear in the party’s manifesto for the next election (current working title: No, You Can’t Have A Pony Because You Didn’t Follow Uncle Vince’s Advice) I thought I’d put forward an idea of my own. It’s liberal, it’s distinctive, and it hopefully wouldn’t cost much, if anything at all:
For every law we pass, we’ll repeal at least one old one.
Picking up on the idea of a Great Repeal Act that Nick Clegg proposed when he was Shadow Home Secretary, it would be a clear statement that we already have enough laws in this country, so if the Government feels it necessary to pass a new one, then at least one old one has to go to make room for it. I don’t think there’s much of a shortage of bad old laws that need to go, and it also allows us to push forward the liberal idea of removing restrictions on people imposed by previous Governments, not adding on more.
#1 by Hywel on November 11th, 2009
I’ve always like the idea of a government being net neutral in terms of adding to the overall legislative burden.
It’s just very difficult to measure. The problem with a 1 in 1 out approach is that laws are not comparable on a one for one basis. Eg compare the Human Rights Act with the Trial of the Pyx Order.
#2 by Nick on November 11th, 2009
Yes, measurement would be an issue – I think that’s a reason to phrase it in terms of laws and regulations rather than acts. After all, you can reduce the total number of acts by just combining several things into one and then saying you’ve reduced the total number.
You’d probably have to start off with a project to catalogue the number of laws and regulations there are, and then work from there.