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Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

Amendment No. 53, standing in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Goodhart, would also address the point raised by the noble Baroness about the possibility of new burdens being created by an ostensibly deregulatory lifting of burdens. The point advanced in our amendment is perhaps narrow, particularly in the light of Clause 4(2)(c), but none the less it is important. Clause 4(2)(c), which establishes a precondition, making it not permissible to utilise the powers of the Bill unless it, "““strikes a fair balance between the public interest and the interests of any person adversely affected by it””," seems rather widely drawn, since the phrase ““public interest”” is an omnibus phrase and does not make it clear that it may necessarily involve the specific interests of other individual people who are or may be affected by the proposed change in the law. The drafting of our amendment is designed to make it quite clear that the specific interests of different groups of individuals must be weighed against each other and that any measure designed to lift the regulatory burden from one group must be seen to be proportionate in its impact on that other group. I commend our amendment to the Committee.