Constitution

HUMAN RIGHTS

• The Human Rights Act has created too many spurious rights and has fuelled a compensation culture which is spiralling out of control.

• In the 21 years between 1975 and 1996, the European Convention on Human Rights was considered in 316 cases, and affected the outcome, reasoning or procedure in 16 of them. In the 18 months between October 2000 (when the Human Rights Act 1998 came into force) and April 2002, the ECHR was considered in 431 cases in the higher courts, and affected the outcome, reasoning or procedure in 318 of them.

• This amounts to a twenty-fold rise in the number of cases in which the Convention was considered.

REFORMS

• Labour have failed to implement their 1997 and 2001 election pledges to make the House of Lords ‘more democratic and representative’.

• The Constitutional Reform Bill was an ill-thought through announcement made on the back of a botched Cabinet reshuffle; the Lord Chief Justice was told only minutes before the press release was made public.

• As a result of Labour’s reforms, the Lord Chancellor – the guarantor of judicial independence in the Cabinet – will no longer necessarily be a senior lawyer sitting in the Lords above normal party politics, but could be a relatively junior, politically ambitious Member of the Commons less able to stand up to stronger colleagues.

CIVIL SERVICE

• The number of special advisers in Government has doubled since 1997 and their cost has nearly tripled from £1.8 million in 1996-7 to £5.3 million in 2003-4.

• Labour have given Labour Party appointees executive powers over senior civil servants.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

• The Government has sought to avoid proper scrutiny in the House of Commons. In the 51 years from 1946 to 1997 only 67 Bills were guillotined. Under the present Government in the six years from 3rd June 1997 until 21st October 2003, 94 bills have been subjected to a guillotine of one sort or another.

• The Government has used Scottish MPs to force through legislation for England – for which there is no majority among English MPs and on matters which in Scotland are solely the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament.

• Labour have consistently sought to sideline and marginalise Parliament by making major policy announcements outside it, such as on the independence for the Bank of England and the review of our murder laws.

COSTLY BUREAUCRACY

• The costs of the new Scottish Parliament building soared to £431 million - a massive increase on the original estimates of between £10-40 million.

• The Welsh Assembly building is costing £60 million – hugely more than the £17 million originally estimated.

• The Greater London Assembly’s building costs the taxpayer over £120 million a year.

CONSERVATIVE ACTION

• Within the first hour of taking office, Michael Howard will forbid party political advisers from telling civil servants what to do. This will protect the integrity of the civil service.

• Conservatives will keep the Lord Chancellor as the guarantor of judicial independence within our Constitution.

• Conservatives will abolish the unnecessary Department for Constitutional Affairs.

• Conservatives will introduce a Civil Service Bill to protect the independence and impartiality of the Civil Service from any future government, and ensure that political appointees are no longer able to misuse their powers.

• Conservatives will seek the widest possible consensus on reform of the House of Lords, with the purpose of establishing a stronger Second Chamber with the authority to hold the Government properly to account.

• Conservatives will address the so-called ‘West Lothian Question’ to prevent Scottish MPs being used to force unpopular policies on England, thereby restoring balance to the Constitution and strengthening the United Kingdom.

Promoted by G A Nichols on behalf of Andrew Turner, both of 58 The Mall, Carisbrooke Road, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 1BW and by
Island Webservices, 2 Highwood Lane, Rookley, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, PO38 3NN