The Government’s attitude to the law
[hat-tip: Tim Worstall]
The Telegraph:
Mr Hoon [Minister for Europe], a supporter of closer European integration, argued that if EC legislation were in the public interest and it was in Britain’s longer term interests to vote in favour “the Government will support the measure even where it had doubts about the legal base”.
…
In what the [European Scrutiny] committee’s top adviser, Sir Edward Osmotherly, described as a “surprisingly frank” letter, Mr Hoon revealed that the Government did not let doubts about a legal basis stand in the way of a proposal if it was expedient on other grounds to back the measure.
M’lud, I did rob the bank but I believe it was expedient for my bank account to do so.
“Not Guilty!”
[...] what the Government thinks about expediency vs. due process – they will opt for the former (see this and [...]