Lords right to criticise the Parliamentary Standards Bill

The House of Lords’ Constitution Committee has heavily criticised the government’s attempt to fast-track legislation through Parliament without proper scrutiny and consultation. Perhaps the most damning part of their Lordships report is at paragraph 23:

“We are wholly unpersuaded by the Government’s case for this bill to be fast-tracked. There is an undoubted need to restore public confidence in the parliamentary system. It is not, however, clear to us that a cobbled together bill rushed through Parliament will help rebuild public trust; on the contrary, if Parliament cannot be seen to be scrutinising proposals with the thoroughness they deserve, public confidence in parliamentarians is likely to be further undermined. Governments should find the strength to resist falling into a temptation simply to see something done, which is no substitute for properly prepared policy and legislation.”

It is quite evident that something needs to be done about the whole scandal surrounding MPs’ expenses and their remuneration. The aims and objectives of the Bill are agreeable to all and the measures are, on the whole, laudable. But that doesn’t mean that the legislation shouldn’t be properly scrutinised, otherwise we end up with more bad legislation on the statute book and the system could need reforming again sooner rather than later.

At the moment, far too much legislation goes by with relatively little scrutiny and it falls onto the House of Lords to conduct the necessary and proper scrutiny to ensure that the resulting law is somewhere near half-decent. Perhaps the Government would be better off waiting for the results of the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life’s inquiry into the scandal and the reforms necessary and then legislate with proper scrutiny.