Delegated legislation

This afternoon I served on a parliamentary delegated legislation committee, which scrutinises more minor legislation (though still very important). In practice, the committees largely rubber stamp the draft legislation and the meetings are often concluded within 5 minutes. Today I objected to the Lesotho aspect of the legislation and voted against it after 45 minutes of debate with the Treasury Minister. I’m not sure the Government MPs, who expected a quiet and quick meeting, were very happy but Parliament’s job is to scrutinise, not rubber stamp.