What indeed? There is clearly a very caustic answer which may well be true but I think all new governments deserve a chance before the carping started. However, in a 24 hours news cycle this is unlikely to happen. However, enough of this as I think there are two pieces of legislations that, if enacted correctly, will be one of the best things that has ever happened to this country. The first bill is the Great Reform Bill. This should remove so much of the authoritarian stain that marked the previous government's record - there. 3,500 new offences in 13 years is not a record that any 'progressive' party should be proud of. So lets us hope that much of the nonsense that came before is removed from the statute book.
The second is the constitutional reform bill. This will contain the proposal to move to an Alternative Vote (AV) system. It is unlikely to be enacted as it will have to be authorised by a referendum - but it is a step in the right direction. Perhaps the most important thing that will be included in this bill will be the reform of the House of Lords. Hopefully we should do away with all the retired politicians having a guaranteed retirement home for life at the other end of the palace of Westminster. A reformed and elected House of Lords would have a much better chance of acting in a democratic manner. It should also see the end of the bishops of the church of England also having a say on matters - surely it will only a matter of time before the Church of England is disestablished (although I suspect this will only happen once the current monarch has passed away.)
The great thing about both bills is that they have no cost implications to talk of - in fact the Reform bill will save money. So there is a real chance they will come to pass and if they do then the face of British politics will have been changed radically and we might live in a more civilised country. We can all hope.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
No comments:
Post a Comment