Legislation (Memoranda of European Derivation) Bill

Do you all remember this little beauty which was defeated in Parliament not so long ago (2004).

Require a Minister of the Crown, the National Assembly for Wales, a Northern
Ireland Minister or a Scottish Minister in respect of any primary or
subordinate legislation which gives effect to any European Community treaty,
obligation or instrument to publish a memorandum specifying the relevant
European Community treaty, obligation or instrument from which it is
derived and identifying which provisions in the legislation are so derived.

A fine bill it was indeed. Shame it was defeated, it would really have put some inconvenient information on the table for Labour (and the Tories).

I am trying to establish whether it will be put forth again later on when the Tories have a majority in Parliament. Remember that Wilberforce had to put forth his ban of slave trade -bill several times before it was passed. He headed the parliamentary campaign against the British slave trade for twenty-six years until the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807 (which was only two years after the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805 - you can never mention this great battle too much).

Even so there is another very interesting bill going through Parliament currently, called European Union (Audit of Benefits and Costs of UK Membership) Bill 2008-09.

The Bill would establish a Commission to carry out regular audits of the costs and benefits of the UK’s membership of the European Union.

Of course there is no hope in hell of this passing into law since all main three parties are fiercely pro-EU but it will be nice to know how they vote.

'Perseverance' and 'Conviction' are key here for those of us who feel utterly abandoned by the political elite in the UK plc.