This week, Conservative MPs asked the Commons to “pray against” statutory instrument No 869, which exercises expedient regulatory powers under section (173)(a) of the 1992 Social Security Administration Act. What that means in practice is impenetrable to most people. Many MPs would have been mystified had the question not been translated into plain English – to cut or not to cut winter fuel payments.
On this occasion, parliamentary scrutiny was stimulated by controversy and, with ministerial permission, some legislative transparency was achieved. But the process itself – arcane and impenetrable – is wide open to abuse. The last Conservative government made a habit of passing rickety “skeleton” bills that awarded ministers sweeping powers to fill in gaps with future regulation, knowing most statutory instruments slip by uncontested.
