Clegg's great law reform turns to farce as people call for murder and marrying horses to be allowed
By Gerri Peev
2nd July 2010
It was announced with much fanfare as the move that would finally let the public break free from an interfering and overbearing state.
But when Nick Clegg invited people to name bad laws they wanted scrapped, ending a ban on marrying horses was probably not what he had in mind.
Within minutes of the Deputy Prime Minister telling the public to reclaim their ' freedom', the exercise descended into farce.
A Government website crashed after dozens of outlandish suggestions were submitted.
These included a call for murder to be allowed on the basis that there were 'only' 500 homicides a year and the cash savings on crime fighting could be used to keep jobs in the public sector.
Others asked for drug laws to be repealed and penalties for prostitution to be scrapped. There were also demands for curbs on 'extreme pornography' to be lifted and a clamour for the death penalty - preferably by hanging - to be reintroduced.
One contributor called for a ban on marrying horses to be lifted. The writer said: 'I have been going out with a horse for seven - very happy - years now. Why oh why can we not marry - or at least civilly partner like the gays can?'
Mr Clegg yesterday promised 'raucous, unscripted debates', which will 'throw up the best ideas' to form part of the Freedom Bill, to be published in the autumn.
He has pledged the biggest shake-up of the country's democracy since the Great Reform Act of 1832.
Mr Clegg said: 'What I find especially exciting about this project is that the debate is totally out of Government's control. Real democracy is unspun. So be demanding about your liberty, be insistent about your rights. This is about your freedom and this is your chance to have your say.'
For every law introduced, the Deputy Prime Minister has asked ministers to identify one that will be thrown out.
And Business Secretary Vince Cable will chair a 'regulation committee' to review the heavy burden of red tape on business.
The Your Freedom website was announced days after Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to reduce the number of Government websites. It replicates many of the petitions already on the Number 10 website.
But a Number 10 spokesman dismissed suggestions that the exercise had become a joke. He said: 'We will be responding to it when we have had a chance to look at all the proposals.
'The point is we are trying to engage the public. Using the internet is an efficient way of doing it. We would want to look at the weight of public opinion but also at the merits of the ideas.'
He refused to comment on proposals to reintroduce the death penalty or allow horse marriage.
But when Mr Clegg examines the suggestions, he may want to take into account the view of late U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who said: 'The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.'
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