Rushing through major pieces of legislation is just nonsensical and out-dated

- David Worsfold
- 07 Apr 2010
- Indicative reading time: 1 minute

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I have always thought the frantic rush to force major pieces of legislation through Parliament in the few days between when an election is called and Parliament is dissolved is totally nonsensical. It seems especially so this year as we have all known for months that the election was going to be on 6 May.
It should have been possible - not to mention sensible - to schedule enough time for each major Parliamentary Bill to be properly debated before the election was called instead of having a series of behind-the-scenes deals to sort out what gets through and what gets dropped. It is the sort of old school politics that does nothing to help restore the reputation of our political system. It means that in the last 24 hours the Finance Bill, which enacts The Budget, has been chopped back, and the controversial Digital Economy Bill forced through despite huge misgivings on both Government and Opposition benches. This morning the Equality Bill has already been passed but much-needed legislation to cut lawyers' fees in libel cases has been dropped without debate.
How can this crazy system be improved? Simple. Have fixed term Parliaments and thereby end the out-dated Prime Ministerial prerogative over the election date. That way it should be possible to create realistic timetables for legislation to be properly debated and passed before the election arrives.

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