Is the current approach to delegated legislation undermining the constitutional balance between executive & legislature? Nick Wrightson discusses the need for greater oversight
- Today, most UK laws are made by government ministers with little parliamentary involvement, risking potentially serious consequences.
- Tighter control over the use of delegated legislation is now required. A better system of scrutiny needs to be introduced. A reassertion of the boundary line between primary and delegated legislation is also called for.
Who makes UK law? Most people’s instinctive answer is likely to be that Parliament does. In recent years, Brexit has suffused our public debate with talk of restoring the supremacy of the Westminster Parliament, unfettered by EU laws made elsewhere. Muddying the waters a little, some have criticised ‘judicial overreach’ on the basis that, in our parliamentary democracy, responsibility for determining and changing our laws (as opposed to interpreting and applying them) should sit with Parliament, not unelected judges. Again, the central idea here is that legislative power rightly rests with Parliament.
A more nuanced response might, however,
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