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Why you shouldn’t rush legislation Jul 29

The law introduced to stop Brian Haw protesting outside Parliament will affect everyone except him, the High Court has ruled.

The legislation requires potential protesters to seek permission before starting a protest within a defined area around Westminster, but Haw’s protest has already started. The law comes into force on Monday 1 August, so presumably anyone else launching a protest now would also be exempt.

Something to do this weekend perhaps…

One Response

  1. […] Why do we need a second chamber at all? Revising legislation to make it better written and less open to loopholes would surely be better done by civil servants qualified in law, employed to check the wording of new bills and reporting to the legislature. In America, the bicameral federal congress consists of the House of Representatives, based on population, and the Senate, where power is divided equally between states. The second chamber should, then, perform a role that requires a democratic basis – be that making substantive changes to laws or holding the executive to account – and either have a role distinct from the Commons or represent the population in a different way. […]