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Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

I had not intended to take part in the debate but I was overwhelmed by the noble Viscount’s arguments. Earlier in life I sometimes had to deal with successive instruments which referred further and further back until major research was needed to find out what they were about. I detected a sign of some movement in the reply of the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, that he wanted to reflect on the problems. I do not believe that the bureaucratic burden on which he seemed to lay so much weight, in arguing against the amendment, should prevent departments that implement European regulations spelling out clearly in layman’s language what they mean: the offence being defined and the penalties. You could always add, as one frequently sees ““this is a description only””. We get that in the Explanatory Memorandums supporting Bills, which say that you have to look at the actual clauses but outline what they means. The noble Viscount referred to the huge torrent of European legislation that pours out. We have heard the example of farmers, but it has happened to employers and others affected by the legislation. Unless its meaning is spelt out in simple layman’s language, my guess is that most people give up and don’t do it. As the noble Viscount said, if there is an occasion when we really ought to address what has become a very serious burden for those affected by the legislation, it is this Bill, where we are trying to lift the burden of regulation. One of the biggest burdens is trying to understand, if I may use unparliamentary language, what the bloody hell it is all about. The noble Viscount is saying that an explanation should be available with the document, in it or attached to it. I thought he made an extremely strong point and I hope that Ministers will take this up, because—and I say this to my noble friends on the Front Bench—we should return to it at a later stage. The noble Viscount was congratulated on having sat through three days of Committee; I think he deserves a much better and more positive response than he got from the government Front Bench.