HENRI VIII CLAUSES’ Are in The News Because Of BREXIT

But what are HENRI VIII Clauses?

These clauses give parliament the right to delegate law making

From parliaments website: Statutory Instruments, also known as SIs, are a form of legislation which allow the provisions of an Act of Parliament to be subsequently brought into force or altered without Parliament having to pass a new Act. They are also referred to as secondary, delegated or subordinate legislation.

Acts of Parliament confer powers on Ministers to make more detailed orders, rules or regulations by means of statutory instruments. An Act will often contain a broad framework and statutory instruments are used to provide the necessary detail that would be too complex to include in the Act itself.

here are two types of Statutory Instrument (SI):

• Affirmative instruments: Both Houses of Parliament must expressly approve them
• Negative instruments: become law without a debate or a vote but may be annulled by a resolution of either House of Parliament

In both cases, Parliaments room for manoeuvre is limited. Parliament can accept or reject an SI but cannot amend it.

Lord Judge spoke strongly against such clauses whilst he was Lord Chief Justice:

You can be sure that when these Henry VIII clauses are introduced they will always be said to be necessary. William Pitt warned us how to treat such a plea with disdain. "Necessity is the justification for every infringement of human liberty: it is the argument of tyrants, the creed of slaves.

However, the fact is that SI’s are used more and more when parliament needs specialist help law making in our more complex society. The Abortion Act for example. They allow legislation to be enacted much quicker, but at the same time delegate the power of an elected parliament in essence allowing to give it's powers to an unelected body or organisation.