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Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

It is absolutely right that a compatibility test should be required here in the same way as is the case for a Bill. It is already an accepted practice that when affirmative resolutions are madeto approve secondary legislation, a statement of compatibility should be made by the Minister introducing them. My amendment is similar in intention to that moved by the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth. The difference is that my amendment specifically requires that the Minister should make a positive statement that the provisions are compatible with the Human Rights Act. If a Minister acting in good faith is unable to make that statement, the Government should proceed by primary legislation, not by order, because it is self-evident that the proposal must be controversial. Therefore, it would be an abuse of power to use procedure under the Bill for purposes that are recognised as being incompatible with convention rights. We should not be more generous in allowing an incompatible order to stand when the Minister acts in good faith, but under a mistaken view of the Human Rights Act. My amendment is based on a provision having the same purpose as that in the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. The width of the powers given by the Bill justify more rigid treatment than the limited Henry VIII powers, exercisable for the specific purpose of the Act that confers that power.