Affordable Housing LCO to be jettisoned!

22 Jun 2009

 The decision made by Welsh Ministers not to proceed with the current Affordable Housing LCO and to start again represents a significant set back for the progress of Wales law making. The first LCO and the extent to which the "right to buy" Council property could be suspended by a Welsh Measure led to an impasse between the appropriate Assembly Legislation Committee and the House of Commons Wales Committee. The latter considered the draft LCO was drafted too widely and the basis for this power could not be justified. Initially a novel resolution was sought in allowing the Secretary of State to have a power of veto over any right to suspend. A Committee of Parliament and the House of Lords adjudged the idea of a veto reserved to the Secretary of State to be unlawful---- so its back to the drawing board! Constitutional commentators are likely to use this episode as a prime example of how the current limited law making powers enjoyed by the Assembly are unsustainable given the complexity of the current process.