The rush to make this law is unseemly and flies in the face of all established parliamentary safeguards and practices.
They’ve now got their knickers in a right twist pver this monstrosity. .
One detail after another - about one an hour it seems. We are witnessing the break-up of the British state, bankrupt, incompetent and in the hands of ,madmen.
Christina Speight
GUARDIAN Politics Blog 30.6.09
Standards bill not compatible with human rights law – report
Controversial legislation hits another hurdle
Posted by Andrew Sparrow
The parliamentary standards bill has hit another hurdle. Last week the Malcolm Jack, the clerk of the Commons, warned that it could undermine the independence of parliament, which resulted in Jack Straw dropping a key clause on Monday. Now the joint committee on human rights has published a report saying that it contravenes human rights legislation because of the way the independent parliamentary standards authority that it will create would investigate MPs accused of wrongdoing.
In our view, the bill is not compatible with article 6(1) of the European convention on human rights, in respect of an MP's right to a fair hearing. We recommend that the bill should be amended to include procedural safeguards – such as the opportunity to call and examine witnesses – where disciplinary action is being considered ... We also recommend that there should be a right of appeal to the judicial committee of the privy council against decisions of the independent parliamentary standards authority and the House of Commons which amount either to the determination of a criminal charge or which determine an MP's civil rights.
The MPs and peers who sit on the joint committee were also not impressed by the government's determination to rush the bill, which was only published last week, through the Commons by tomorrow night.
We note, with a certain irony, that although the bill is designed to restore public confidence in the House of Commons, it is being rushed into the statute book and will not receive proper scrutiny, as a result. We have been unable to write to the government to ask for its views on the issues we raise.
MPs are debating the bill now and it is due to get its third reading tomorrow. Then it goes to the Lords, where they take these constitutional issues particularly seriously. More U-turns could be coming.
Posts
