Former attorney general warns over Henry VIII powers

MPs and peers are losing control of lawmaking, former attorney general Dominic Grieve has warned in a new podcast from legal reform charity Justice to strengthen ‘legal literacy’ in Westminster.

Grieve appears in the first episode of Justice’s Law for Lawmakers series, out today. The series explores how the laws that shape society are made and upheld.

On why Justice has entered the podcast arena, chief executive Fiona Rutherford told the Gazette the charity has been working on the rule of law as a theme over the last four years. Following the last election, every MP was handed an updated version of Justice’s Law for Lawmakers guide to ensure they had the knowledge and tools needed to ensure democratic, evidence-based lawmaking.

‘Making law is a complex thing to do,’ Rutherford said. ‘We’re introducing our new parliamentarians without any training or induction on how to do lawmaking. The chances of those laws being the best they can be, we are not putting them in the best position to do that.'

Having produced the guide to support MPs and civil servants, Justice wanted to explore other routes to make the themes explored in the guide accessible.

In the first episode, Grieve discusses so-called ‘Henry VIII powers’, which enable ministers to amend or repeal provisions in an act of parliament via secondary legislation. Grieve describes them as the ‘Achilles heel of our government system’ that subvert parliament’s role.

Rutherford believes the podcast is timely as ‘we’re in the midst of a tumultuous decade of the rule of law being challenged’. While the UK is in a strong position, it is ‘not immune’ to the ‘democratic backsliding’ seen abroad. 'This is a time to strengthen and build resilience,’ she said.

With its focus on the rule of law, Rutherford hopes the podcast will stand out in a crowded market. Future guests include former Home Office lawyer and Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti, now a member of the House of Lords, former lord chancellor Robert Buckland, Lord Strathclyde, chair of the House of Lords constitution committee, and Andrew Denney, a partner at international firm A&O Shearman.

New episodes of the podcast will be released every fortnight.