The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #164605   Message #3970922
Posted By: DMcG
10-Jan-19 - 05:10 AM
Thread Name: Brexit #2
Subject: RE: Brexit #2
There may be cheering from me - quietly, I am not given to such exuberance! - but it is about rebalancing the relative power of Parliament and the Executive, not just about Brexit. I want a Labour government, whenever it may be we next have one, to have its business motions subject to amendments by the House as well. And the house as a whole decides if those amendments are accepted. That moves us towards a truly representative democracy and away from an elected dictatorship. Many years ago now I heard Robin Cook saying he was sick of an approach where a government can do what it likes with almost no effective opposition for years, then the other party gets in and equally ineffectually unopposed undoes all that and does what it wants, then another reversal when the first party gets back in. In order to get a truly lasting change you need a broad consensus across parties. And making Parliament more in control of what government can do helps.