Sunday 19 October 2014

The fight for openness

There was yet another example of what use back-bench MPs in minority parties can be, when John Hemming moved the second reading of his Transparency and Accountability Bill in the House of Commons last Friday. Unfortunately, the Bill has met tacit opposition from the government and, one suspects, Conservative and Labour back-benchers judging by the way they spent two-and-a-half hours of valuable Private Members time on the pointless Referendum Bill before John Hemming was able to speak. No vote was able to be taken and debate is due to resume next Friday.

Not only is the Hemming Bill a clearly liberal measure, it also incorporates long-felt needs on the part of consumer groups like Which?


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