THE DRAFT BILL
MINISTERS OF THE CROWN (EXECUTIVE POWERS)
BILL
CONTENTS
PART 1
INTERPRETATION AND PURPOSES
1 General interpretation
2 Purposes of the Act
PART 2
INFORMATION ABOUT AND CONSIDERATION OF EXECUTIVE POWERS
3 Duty to provide information
4 Parliamentary consideration of information
PART 3
EXERCISE OF SPECIFIED EXECUTIVE POWERS
Use of the armed forces
5 Armed conflict
6 Declaration of war
7 Armed forces in support of the police
Ratification of treaties
8 Interpretation of sections 9 to 12
9 Ratification: general
10 Requirement of parliamentary approval
11 Ratification in urgent cases
12 Ratification: European Parliament's powers
Passports:
13 Issue, etc., of passports
PART 4
MISCELLANEOUS
14 Discharge of duty by the Prime Minister
15 Savings in relation to Her Majesty
16 Short title and extent
MINISTERS OF THE CROWN (EXECUTIVE POWERS)
BILL
A
BILL
TO
Provide Parliament with information about royal prerogative powers
which give Ministers of the Crown executive authority, to require
Parliament's approval to be obtained for the exercise of certain
of those powers, and for connected purposes.
BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with
the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and
Commons, in the present Parliament assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows: -
PART 1
INTERPRETATION AND PURPOSES
1 General interpretation
(1) This Act must be construed according to this section.
(2) In this Act -
"executive powers" means those powers (and only those
powers) which, by virtue of the royal prerogative, can be used
by or on the advice of Ministers of the Crown and which enable
them to act without other legal or parliamentary authority;
"Her Majesty's Government" means Her Majesty's Government
in the United Kingdom;
"Minister of the Crown" means the holder of an office
in Her Majesty's Government;
"Ministerial advice" means advice tendered to Her Majesty
by Ministers of the Crown or any one or more of them;
"royal prerogative" means those powers and rights enjoyed
uniquely by the Crown otherwise than by virtue of statute;
"Secretary of State" means one of Her Majesty's Principal
Secretaries of State;
"United Kingdom" means Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
and includes the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
(3) This Act does not concern or affect royal prerogative
powers that are personal to Her Majesty and which are exercised
in Her Majesty's discretion, albeit usually on Ministerial advice,
nor does the Act concern or affect appointment to the office of
Prime Minister.
(4) Examples of the powers referred to in section 1(3) include
the powers -
(a) to appoint Ministers of the Crown;
(b) to grant Royal Assent to legislation; and
(c) to prorogue and to dissolve Parliament.
2 Purposes of the Act
(1) The following are the main purposes of this Act.
(a) It ensures that Parliament is to be provided with information
about the nature and extent of executive powers, and establishes
a procedure through which Parliament can form a view about whether
those powers are satisfactory.
(b) It requires that parliamentary authority be obtained for
the exercise of specified executive powers.
(c) It requires Parliament to be informed when certain other
of those powers have been used.
(d) As a result, it ensures that -
(i) Parliament can decide whether any changes are needed in
relation to any of those powers;
(ii) the democratic basis for the use of specified powers
is guaranteed; and
(iii) Ministerial responsibility and accountability to Parliament
in relation to those powers are enhanced.
(2) The ways in which those purposes are to be achieved are
set out in Parts 2 and 3 of this Act.
PART 2
INFORMATION ABOUT AND CONSIDERATION OF EXECUTIVE POWERS
3 Duty to provide information
(1) The Secretary of State must lay before each House of Parliament
a statement of all executive powers.
(2) That statement must include for each power listed -
(a) a description of its nature and extent;
(b) any constitutional, legal or other safeguards which surround
its use; and
(c) reference to the principal decisions of any court, and
to any mention of it in any statute, which have helped such a
description to be arrived at.
(3) The statement must include the powers included in Part
3 of this Act (which governs the exercise of the powers specified
in that Part).
(4) The Secretary of State must lay that statement within
six months of the passing of this Act.
4 Parliamentary consideration of information
(1) The statement laid under section 3 shall be considered
by a joint select committee of both Houses of Parliament .
(2) That committee shall consider whether changes should be
made to the law or practice in relation to any of the powers listed
in the statement, and shall report its conclusions to Parliament,
along with draft legislation to give effect to such changes.
(3) During that consideration the committee must have regard
to principles which should apply to the exercise of those powers.
(4) Those principles shall include the following.
(a) The necessity that, in exceptional circumstances, Ministers
of the Crown should be able, by using executive powers, to act
quickly in the national interest without prior parliamentary authority
or approval.
(b) The desirability, in most circumstances, that parliamentary
approval should be obtained before (or sometimes after) those
powers are used.
(c) The requirement that Ministers of the Crown should account
appropriately to Parliament for the use of those powers.
(d) The desirability that appropriate and adequate safeguards
for the citizen should exist in relation to those powers.
(e) The desirability that any obsolete, unnecessary or inappropriate
powers be abrogated.
PART 3
EXERCISE OF SPECIFIED EXECUTIVE POWERS
Use of the armed forces
5 Armed conflict
(1) In this section -
(a) "armed conflict" means any use of force which
gives rise, or may give rise, to a situation of armed conflict
to which the Geneva Conventions of 1949 or the Additional Protocols
of 1977 apply;
(b) "the Geneva Conventions" means the four Conventions
on the laws of war concluded in Geneva on 12 August 1949, and
"the Additional Protocols" means the two Protocols Additional
to those Conventions, concluded at Geneva on 8 June 1977; and
(c) "Her Majesty's armed forces" means any of Her
Majesty's forces, within the meaning of the Army Act 1955, section
225, a definition which also applies to clause 7 of this Bill.
(2) Her Majesty's armed forces shall take part in armed conflict
only if participation in it is approved by resolution of each
House of Parliament.
(3) But section 5(2) shall not apply in case of action taken
by those armed forces in their immediate and personal self-defence.
(4) Resolutions under this section must be obtained -
(a) before those armed forces participate in armed conflict,
or
(b) if Her Majesty's Government is of the opinion that such
participation is necessary as a matter of urgency before resolutions
could be obtained, within seven days of the beginning of that
participation.
(5) If Parliament is prorogued or is dissolved when such resolutions
are needed then resolutions under this section must be obtained
as soon as practicable.
6 Declaration of war
No declaration of war shall be made on behalf of the United Kingdom
unless that declaration has been approved by resolution of each
House of Parliament.
7 Armed forces in support of the police
(1) Any use of Her Majesty's armed forces in support of the
police in cases specified in section 7(2) must be reported by
the Secretary of State as soon as possible in a statement to both
Houses of Parliament.
(2) The cases are where -
(a) the armed forces are used in support of the police to
preserve or to restore public order; or
(b) the armed forces are deployed in public to prevent acts
of terrorism.
(3) But section 7(1) does not apply to cases where the armed
forces provide information or technical support to the police,
or in which the armed forces deal with particular explosive devices.
Ratification of treaties
8 Interpretation of sections 9 to 12
In sections 9 to 12 -
"ratification" means the act by which the United Kingdom
establishes its consent to be bound by a treaty; and
"treaty" means an international agreement (however called)
concluded between States, or between States and intergovernmental
organisations, which are governed by international law, and which
is subject to ratification.
9 Ratification: general
Her Majesty's Government shall ratify on behalf of the United
Kingdom treaties to which this Act applies only in accordance
with sections 10 to 12.
10 Requirement of parliamentary approval
(1) The Secretary of State must lay before each House of Parliament
any treaty which Her Majesty's Government proposes to ratify on
behalf of the United Kingdom.
(2) The Secretary of State shall lay together with each such
treaty an Explanatory Memorandum setting out -
(a) the purpose or purposes of the treaty;
(b) the reasons for the proposed ratification; and
(c) the likely costs and benefits for the United Kingdom of
the treaty.
(3) A treaty which would -
(a) affect the existing laws of the United Kingdom, or the
private rights of individuals or corporations in the United Kingdom;
or
(b) lay a pecuniary burden on the inhabitants of the United
Kingdom; or
(c) cede any part of the territory of the United Kingdom shall
be ratified only following the approval of each House of Parliament
signified by resolution.
(4) A treaty which is not embraced by section 10(3) may be
ratified unless a resolution praying that Her Majesty's Government
refrain from doing so is passed by either House of Parliament
within 21 sitting days beginning with the day on which the treaty
was first laid before Parliament.
(5) The Secretary of State may by order direct that section
10(3) be amended so as to add to the class of treaties whose ratification
must be approved by both Houses of Parliament.
(6) In this section -
(a) "sitting days" excludes any period during which
Parliament either is adjourned for more than four days or is prorogued
or dissolved;
(b) "order" means an order exercised by statutory
instrument which is subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution
of either House of Parliament.
11 Ratification in urgent cases
(1) Section 10 shall not apply to the ratification of any
treaty if, due to exceptional circumstances, the Secretary of
State decides that its ratification is urgently required.
(2) In that case the Secretary of State shall as soon as possible
notify each House of Parliament of his decision and of the reasons
for it.
12 Ratification: European Parliament's powers
This Act does not affect section 12 of the European Parliamentary
Elections Act 2002 (which prevents the ratification of any treaty
providing for any increase in the powers of the European Parliament
unless ratification is approved by Act of Parliament).
Passports
13 Issue, etc., of passports
(1) The Secretary of State shall refuse to issue a passport
to a British citizen, and shall revoke or withdraw it, only in
accordance with rules approved by Parliament.
(2) The Secretary of State must lay before each House of Parliament,
within three months of the passing of this Act, the draft of a
statutory instrument setting out rules for that purpose.
(3) That statutory instrument shall not come into force until
it has been approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.
(4) Until such a statutory instrument comes into force the
Secretary of State shall continue to issue, refuse to issue, revoke
and withdraw passports as if this section had not been enacted.
PART 4
MISCELLANEOUS
14 Discharge of duty by the Prime Minister
Any duty cast by this Act on the Secretary of State may be discharged
by the Prime Minister.
15 Savings in relation to Her Majesty
Nothing in this Act shall be taken to derogate from any rights,
privileges, dignities or immunities belonging to Her Majesty.
16 Short title and extent
(1) This Act may be cited as the Ministers of the Crown (Executive
Powers) Act 2004.
(2) This Act extends to the whole of the United Kingdom.
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