BILLS BOARD
The Bills Board is your source of information on what's going through Parliament and what the Liberal Democrats have got to say about it.
In November / December each year (or immediately after a general election) the Queen announces all the government bills proposed for the next parliamentary session (the following 12 months usually). For all the key bills for this session, we will provide a brief summary of what the bill entails and the Liberal Democrat view on it. As the bill moves through its parliamentary stages updates are added where necessary, along with links to reports on Liberal Democrat speeches in the Parliamentary Reports section of this website.
Bills from previous sessions can be found in our archives (listed below, underneath this session's Bills). Other information about party policy is available in the Policy Section.
These pages, like the rest of the Parliament section of this website, are updated by the Liberal Democrat Political Intelligence and Communications Section. Any comments on them should be emailed directly to us at comms@libdems.org.uk.
George Crozier
Liberal Democrat Political Intelligence and
Communications Section
2007-8 Session of
Parliament
The Queen's Speech on Tuesday November 6th set
out the Government's plans for the next 12 months. Scroll down to read the
Liberal Democrats overview and response to the Queen's
Speech
2007-8 Session of
Parliament
Channel Tunnel
Rail Link Bill
Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill (Carried Over from
2006-7 Session)
Children and Young Persons Bill
Climate Change Bill
Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill (Carried Over from 2006-7
Session)
Crossrail Bill (Carried Over from 2006-7 Session)
Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill
Education and Skills Bill
Energy Bill
European Communities (Finance) Bill
Health and Social Care Bill
Housing and Regeneration Bill
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill
Local Transport Bill
Pensions Bill
Planning Reform Bill
Sale
of Student Loans Bill
Liberal Democrat overview of the
Queen's Speech and legislation in this session of Parliament
Where’s the
vision? Gordon Brown told us he was not holding an election this autumn
because he wanted to show us his vision for Britain. We’re still waiting. The
government seems to have run out of policy ideas.
It's just more
of the same. This isn’t the first Queen's Speech of the Brown
government. It’s the 11th Queen's Speech of the Blair/Brown government. A huge
anticlimax. The vast majority of the bills implement proposals formed when Tony
Blair was prime minister. It’s another reminder that the change at the top is a
change of manager rather than a change in direction.
Cosy
Labour-Tory convergence. Across wide swathes of policy Brown’s approach
is indistinguishable from the Conservatives. Copying of tax policies. Competing
for the anti-immigration vote. Support for knee jerk ‘prison works’ crime
policies, and so on. Only the Liberal Democrats offer a distinctive
voice.
Quality not quantity. There have been
nearly 400 Acts of Parliament since 1997, including 29 criminal justice bills
alone. The government are routinely using legislation as a substitute for
executive action, and just to look like they are doing
something.
Brown is not green. The environment was
mostly ignored during his decade at the Treasury. He’s downgraded the key
government committee on the environment and is trying to backtrack on renewable
energy targets. The two ‘green bills’ (energy and climate change) fall far short
of what is needed.
Archives
2006
- 2007 Session of Parliament Bills Archive
2005
- 2006 Session of Parliament Bills Archive
2004
- 2005 Session of Parliament Bills Archive
2003 -
2004 Session of Parliament Bills Archive
2002 -
2003 Session of Parliament Bills Archive
2001 -
2002 Session of Parliament Bills Archive
2000 -
2001 Session of Parliament Bills Archive
1999 -
2000 Session of Parliament Bills Archive
Please note
that information in the archives of the Bills Board, like all old material on
this website, represents the view taken by the Liberal Democrats at the time,
and that the party's position on a particular issue may change over time, as a
result of new policy formulation and the progress of
events.
