By IRNA,
London : An all-party committee of MPs Monday protested about the “inadequate” it has been given to scrutinise political reforms being rushed through parliament by Britain’s coalition government.
The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, which was only established last month, urged the government to allow more time so that it could report substantially on the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, which was introduced on July 22.
“We regret that the government’s timetable has denied us an adequate opportunity to scrutinise the Bill before second reading,” the committee said, referring to only two sitting days being allowed before the bill has its second reading after the summer recess.
The legislation covering a referendum on voting reform, fixed-term parliaments and a cut in the number of MPs, was part of a pact to clinch the Liberal Democrats going into coalition government with the Conservatives following the stalemate in May’s general elections.
In a letter to Lib Dem’s Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, committee chairman Graham Allen contrasted the timetable with reform for House of Lords where a draft bill to be published before the end of the year will be subject to full pre-legislative scrutiny.
Allen, a Labour MP, also protested that he has had “no reply to either of my letters” of June 25 and July 6 to Clegg requesting him to find time so the committee could give the bill some level of scrutiny.
“When the House agreed to establish the committee, it did so, in the words of the Deputy Leader of the House, “to ensure that the House is able to scrutinise the work of the Deputy Prime Minister”, he reminded Clegg, according to a copy of the letter obtained by IRNA.
The committee also published a letter sent to them from Clegg on the day the bills were presented to Parliament in which he looks “forward to the process of scrutiny and debate over the coming months”.