Dave Does Europe ... kind of

To get past the gimick that the subeditors think will sell newspapers the only course of action is to go to the source and actually read the paper produced by the Democracy Task Force itself. Once again the actual paper is full of good stuff when it comes to liberty and reigning in the over mighty executive. Should these proposals actually get implemented hopefully it will make it more difficult should fascists, like Labour, gain power again in future to shred liberties at the same pace Labour is doing at the moment. Their findings include:

three huge deficiencies: the scrutiny of finance, that of EU legislation and Parliament's role in the Prerogative areas of treaty ratification and decisions to commit British troops to actual or potential combat.

Dave might not do. Europe, but his Democracy Task Force does. This should not be surprising as the EU is one of the largest sources of the current lack of democratic accountability since it is the source of up to 84% of legislation. That number is according the German President Roman Herzog the UK government preferring to keep rather quiet about the actual number for the UK. However for us the number could well be less, but only because of the legislative diarrhea from the current administration.

With regard to treaties, we reaffirm our belief that ratification should be removed from the Prerogative and made subject to Parliamentary consent. Those with significant implications - essentially those with financial, legal or territorial implications for the United Kingdom or its citizens - would require full Parliamentary approval, while the remainder would simply be laid before the Houses of Parliament with automatic approval if they were not challenged within twenty one business days.

This would not only scupper things like trying to slip the EU Constitution in through the back door without the promised referendum, it would also stop things like the abomination of an extradition treaty that Labour somehow forced upon us.

There are a lot of other good points in there as well such as taking more parliamentary functions such as Select Committees out of the hands of the Parties by giving the whole house a vote on chairs them and other measures to transfer power back to Parliament from 10 Downing street. If you want clear blue water between Dave's Conservatives and Labour then this is it. Giving power away from the executive is the one policy that no Labour government would ever contemplate, but it is something tha the conservatives are thinking about and might even actually do.