text: Lords warn of government by diktat and imbalance between Parliament and government - Scottish Legal News
  Lords warn of government by diktat and imbalance between Parliament and government
  There is an urgent need to rebalance power between Parliament and the UK government, peers have warned.
  This is the message of a pair of hard-hitting reports published today by two cross-party House of Lords select committees with responsibility for scrutinising all primary and secondary legislation.
  Both reports express considerable alarm and criticise the increasing tendency of all governments in recent years to adopt procedures which effectively bypass Parliament's role in the legislative process by enabling ministers to make the detailed laws which govern every aspect of how we live and how businesses and other organisations operate.
  The reports condemn a growing trend, made worse by the twin challenges of Brexit and the pandemic, in using skeleton bills to give ministers sweeping powers to make secondary legislation that can be passed with little or no consideration by the two Houses. The DPRRC report also draws attention to the fact that, on occasion, these minister-made laws are disguised as "protocols" "directions" or "guidance", which have legislative effect but are often made without parliamentary oversight.
  Lord Blencathra, chair of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee, said: "We believe that a critical moment has been reached where action is needed to bring about a significant change in the way in which legislation is framed so that it is, first and foremost, founded on the principles of parliamentary sovereignty, democracy, the rule of law and the accountability of the executive to Parliament.
  Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, chair of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, said: "These reports from our two committees are a blunt warning, that hundreds of laws are being imposed on all of us, in effect by government diktat, with no effective scrutiny and control by Parliament.
  "Increasingly the government has made use of secondary legislation, regulations and orders which are subject to a much lower level of scrutiny than primary legislation. Given this, it is not surprising that the executive can be tempted to put as much of the law as possible into regulations."
  He added: "Our reports set out solutions to arrest this development and we would urge the government to heed our call to follow them and restore power to Parliament to effectively perform its role".