eurealist.co.uk

The Civil Contingencies Bill

One of the reasons I am opposed to the European Union on offer, is that it is a Non democratic organisation, however it would be foolish of me to try to suggest that the EU is an outside organisation, imposing its will on an unwilling government in Westminster.

The fact is that Westminster is itself becoming corrupt with it own self-importance, we the people elect those who govern us to do so only within the powers already laid down over a thousand years, these are not absolute powers, there are very strict limits to the powers of our rulers. They can not make laws which overrule the basic rights of us the people, they cannot make laws which give our power to elect our government to an outside agency or foreign power. There are already in place laws to stop them doing just as they wish, the very spirit of our government is to rule us with our permission, that we the people hold the final sovereignty over our governments.

The British Constitution is not held in one document, but is based on basic English Common Law, the law of our forefathers the law of natural justice a common sense law that we all greed to live under. The British Parliament does not have the power to change this basic law by which they are elected and given the power to make our laws.

Yet all the time we see laws being enacted in our parliament that do exactly oppose our basic rights, recently we have seen serious attempts being made by parliament to overturn the very basis of parliamentary powers and change the Constitution of the parliament itself, although the British Constitution is for all time and unchangeable by a short term government, this is the reason that our form of government has lasted for so long and also why the British Constitution has formed the basis of many other countries Constitutions the USA for one. At base it is rule by the people for the people with the real power lying squarely in the hands of the people.

The EU takes its base law from the Napoleonic code which empowers governments with full authority and does not limit government’s powers, the government then pass rights down to the people. This can bee seen in the EU Constitution which gives the people basic human rights, such as the right to life the right to marry etc. British people are born with those rights enshrined in the very fabric of our governments, so the EU by giving us those rights are in fact removing the rights we already have and then giving them back to us, but with the caveat that the EU can if it wishes remove those rights.

I feel that this government is in the process of preparing the British people for a transfer of our basic system of government from English Common law to Code napoleon. The recent changes to the constitution have in fact been dismantling the safeguards built into the system and placing more power into the hands of the government.

The changes to the House of Lords and the proposed changes to the legal system are clearly attempts to do just that. I would not defend the rights of certain people to be born to a place in the House of Lords, but do question if it is better to have an arbitrary system to protect the people, rather than a system of yes men who owe their place to the present or any future government, If that is the case then there is no protection. By dismantling the present three part system the principle of the separation of powers, and placing all powers in the hands of the ministers we will have lost all basic rights and be well on the way to adopting the Code Napoleon. With these acts, whether passed of not, the Government shows the intention quite deliberately to ignore our Constitution.

The Civil Contingencies Bill is such a dangerous legislative proposal that it has no place in a democratic society. No democratic government should ever consider such legislation let alone have the audacity to pass it into law.

It will be opening up our system of law to the equivalent of what happened in Germany in 1933, where it became possible for an extreme party legitimately to hijack a democracy and turn it into something dictatorial. The Labour Government appear to want to be a total power in the land without the necessity of obeying the constitution, by removing the basic safeguards of our rights, we are signing the death warrant of Britain as a democracy.

This bill, enables the Government to declare a State of Emergency on trivial or threatened events and the definition of an emergency is extraordinarily wide, which leaves it open to potential abuse by unscrupulous governments.

Once the Government has declared a State of Emergency the Emergency Regulations are available to the government, democracy is suspended, Parliament inoperative and the Citizens, brought under strict police-military rule, property can be confiscated without compensation, and previous Acts of Parliament can be nullified, No conceivable state of affairs warrants the suspension of democracy and, essentially, the imposition of rule by decree, no government should be trusted with the powers this bill grants.

The removal of our Constitution, as is proposed in the First Report Draft Civil Contingencies Bill, commencing with Magna Carta 1297, followed by Bill of Rights is not a power that should be given to any Member of Parliament. All that is required to ensure our Constitution remained safe and intact is a paragraph saying so, It was recommended that the Acts of Parliament listing our Constitution was placed on the face of the Bill as not being liable to modification or disapplication but this has not been done. Why not if the government wish to have at hand powers to combat terrorism then why on earth do they need the power to remove the British Constitution?

Those who sit in our Houses of Parliament have a sworn duty to preserve our Constitution, not remove or destroy it,
Lord Crickhowell This House has no more important duty than to uphold the rule of law, which the Lord Chief Justice reminded us prevents the Government from abusing their powers and stops a democracy descending into an elected dictatorship.

Thanks to Anne Palmer