In April 2016, Lord Igor Judge, the former Lord Chief Justice (2008–13), delivered a lecture at King’s College London (‘Ceding Power to the Executive; the Resurrection of Henry VIII’, www.tinyurl.com/judge-lecture) that contained an astonishing fact. Since 1950, of 170,000 statutory instruments created, only 17 have been rejected by one or other House. This amounts to one in 10,000, or 0.01%.
The House of Commons last rejected a statutory instrument in 1979. The House of Lords has a slightly better record of six since 1968, but its most recent rejection — of a financial instrument under the Tax Credits Act 2002 — led to the government threatening to rein in the powers of the House of Lords.
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