Engaging with the Great Reform Bill 2029 idea, it’s a masterstroke. In an era of short-termism, Lee’s proposal for a omnibus bill echoes the 1832 Act’s transformative power, bundling fixes to overwhelm opposition and deliver systemic reset. It’s not pie-in-the-sky; it’s pragmatic radicalism, recognising that piecemeal tweaks won’t cut it against the “malign web.”
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Samizdata quote of the day – crafting the Great Reform BillOctober 15th, 2025 |
 25 comments to Samizdata quote of the day – crafting the Great Reform BillLeave a Reply |
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Burn the curajus state down. Free speech. Small government. Deportations. I want the lot and will vote accordingly.
The Bristol Channel tidal barrage should have been built decades ago. The same for the Thames, including an extra airport for London (Boris Island = athird runway at Heathrow is absurd) road/rail links between Essex and Kent and a rail link to the Channel Tunnel.
I think it is pie in the sky wishing.
If the authorities wanted to change things and get things done (such as NickM outlined) they would have done it already. As they haven’t then they must be happy with the way things are.
The major obstacle with The Great Reform Bill (of any year in the future you care to pick) is that it will have to be compiled by Civil Servants and voted in by Parliament, both of which are part of those self same authorities that are happy with things as they stand.
Just because 90% of the country want something doesn’t mean that Parliament or the Civil Service will implement it.
Project 2025 in the USA was certainly a parallel (or at least similar) effort.
And, once word of it got out, the right had to quickly and loudly disclaim it, lest it sink our election chances. (“Fake news, it’s just a pie-in-the-sky Heritage Foundation paper!”)
I loved it. Which is generally not a good sign for widespread acceptance.
I have asked this in this forum before, but I have never gotten an answer from the brit authors or commenters. Allow me to try again using Phil B’s post of 10-16-25 at 12:35 AM as a starting point.
“The major obstacle with The Great Reform Bill (of any year in the future you care to pick) is that it will have to be compiled by Civil Servants and voted in by Parliament, both of which are part of those self same authorities that are happy with things as they stand.
Just because 90% of the country want something doesn’t mean that Parliament or the Civil Service will implement it.”
What means are there in britain when the Government, Parliament, and the Civil Service ignore them and defy/threaten them? I admit that I know nothing specific about said Great Reform Bill and have no position on it. My question refers to the mechanics of power politics of your country; and I realize that given various Thought Crime arrests there that it might not be safe to answer. And that itself is an answer.
Subotai Bahadur
@Subotai Bahadur
Kevin Baker put this one on his blog (The Smallest Minority) regarding the possibility of a revolution in the UK.
https://www.smallestminority.org/2025/08/will-there-be-a-revolution-in-britain/
In short, nothing will happen, until it does.
The vids that are jump-connected were delightful – what IS the “English Dream” (as opposed to the “American Dream”)? – but the main essay was (to this far-removed American) depressing.
The 1832 Act is not really what Mr Towler means – he does not mean giving more people the vote (although the 1832 Act also took-away the vote from some poor people in “potwalloper” boroughs – at least from their heirs), he means REPEALING existing legislation.
Something rather like the Act of Oblivion (1660) – and the general 1660-1 declaration that the “laws” of the Commonwealth military dictatorship were not law – that they were void.
Something like the 1832 Act would not repeal such legislation as the Environment Act or the Equality Act or the rest of the dreadful “legislation” of so many decades – indeed it would not repeal anything. He means a 1660 style change – NOT an 1832 style change.
Still I AGREE with Mr Towler – a Great Repeal Act is needed.
A great REPEAL Act – getting rid of existing legislation, NOT a Great “Reform” Act.
Words are important – as we found out when we got “Brexit” rather than Independence – and found that European Union regulations and policies just carried on being the law of this land.
The alternative is surrender.
To state the bleedin’ obvious, a working majority in Parliament is an absolute prerequisite. Once that is achieved, Reform has already talking about changing the civil service to a model where the government can simply fire people at will, and a new government will simply replace all the people at the top.
And all that takes is a majority in Parliament.
So no, not pie in the sky at all.
Short version.
Not “reform” REPEAL.
And not “1832” (that year did not roll back the state – I do not know why that year is being cited), 1660.
Restoration – the declaring void of decades of bad “legislation”.
REPEAL, RESTORATION – NOT “Reform” – reforming the state makes it bigger and more interventionist than it was before.
@Subotai Bahadur
The first stage is to elect a government which believes in these things, as opposed to one which lies in order to win office. The few remaining supporters of the shambling corpse of the Conservative Party often claim that the 2010-24 Tories were prevented from doing the right thing by the civil service ‘blob’. This is not correct. Every single Tory PM, except perhaps the hapless Truss, was a firm supporter of the Blairite consensus – a huge, powerful and endlessly interfering state funded by borrowing and immigration. Most Tory MPs were against Brexit.
This does not mean that a Reform or reforming government would not face civil service opposition. As Paul Marks points out, the best way to get round this is simply to repeal legislation. It is easier to stop doing things than try to do them differently.
However, the other opposition a Reform government will face is left wing strikes, obstruction and street violence. Not to mention non-cooperation and constant hostile rhetoric from the EU.
Reform will have to be tough, smart and not try too much at once.
Phil B,
They don’t have the mindset or capability to do big projects (see the farago of HS2) and they sure as Hell aren’t going to allow the genuinely private sector to do it. The fundamental issue with “technocrats” is they don’t “do” technology. They are engineers of the human soul and not of bricks and mortar, steel and silicon. Every time I take the train into Manchester I go over the Stockport viaduct…
– Wikipedia
Emphasis mine. I hope I have made my point.
Oh come on NickM, we all know the Stockport Viaduct was a bodge job. Did anyone do a bat assessment, or assess the impact on toads? Were LGBTQ+++ Muslims even consulted?
Put the bill in the Manifesto before the next election and it means the civil service and the Lords will have a much harder time blocking it, they will still try though.
Yeah Marius, it was such a bodged job it’s still working 175 years later.
None of this is entirely new or British. Compare this with this. The Langley Aerodrome cost at least $50,000 ($10,000 on the launch catapult) and resulted only in Charles Manly taking a very cold bath in the Potomac in December – twice. It is estimated the Wright Brothers spent about $1000 and launched from a rail made of wood from a local lumber yard which cost $4 and we all know how that panned out don’t we?
There is a story about the Wright’s first flight that intrigues me. They were aided in “spotting” the plane by, amongst others, a “curious teenager”. Who was this? Shoud they have been at school or work? It was 10.35 am on a Thursday. Did they get a paddling for their absence? Was it made worse when they said they were helping two guys from Ohio with a flying machine thus compounding their skiving with lies? Afterall the New York Times had this as an editorial.
Now where’s my jetpack? I gotta get to the space-el pronto because I’ve got a low-G tennis match on Mars with a Klingon and they despise tardiness…
We do not need yet another “Reform” Act – we need a REPEAL Act, a Great Repeal Act was what this movement originally called.
When did REPEAL (get rid of past Acts of Parliament – such as the Environment Act and the Equality Act) get changed into meaningless (or worse) “Reform”?
As for more infrastructure products – that is Corporate Welfare for Corporations, and there is no money for such pork barrel (Economist magazine – Corporate Shill) stuff.
OT but this is the best summary of Trump’s skill and style. The elitists and tut-tutters should watch at least the queued up portion of the video.
https://thenewneo.com/2025/10/15/trumps-dealmaking-style-on-the-international-front/
It was never noble as it applied to Britain. We had rights under common, or “natural”, law as of right; they didn’t have to be enumerated. What the HRA did for the first time, by incorporating the ECHR into the British legal framework, was to codify vaguely-defined and wide-ranging exceptions to them (“… subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law … in the interests of national security, territorial disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals …”). I refuse to believe that the numerous learned people involved weren’t perfectly aware of this or that it wasn’t, therefore, the entire object of the exercise.
Phil B. on 10-16-25 at 1:38 AM plus others who have weighed in.
Sorry it took so long to get back to you, but I had to find time to see the videos. From what I can see from my side of the Atlantic, y’all are pretty much scrod. There does not seem to be any political structure or force in britain that cares for the mass of the population, nor does there seem to be any structure that can prevent a massive majority run Parliament from literally running wild on the rights of brits. There are no courts that can prevent Parliament from violating the rights of those in britain, or of any ‘selected for discrimination’ group in britain. And to be honest, there is nothing that mandates that once a party or political class has control of Parliament that there ever have to be elections again.
Phil, you said that “Nothing will happen till it does.” That to me seems to point to a Clausewitzian solution only. Figuring that the majority of the coercive forces of State Power will stand with the State, hard times are coming. One of the things I own, acquired through a very roundabout route, is an actual period Brown Bess musket. It saddens me to think that it might be needed in the Old Country and be one of the more powerful weapons there on the peoples’ side.
Subotai Bahadur
I find it surprising that they can’t fire people in the civil service already.
Marius – have you ever been a minister? Have you ever even been a local councilor?
I do not think you have – because you seem to think, indeed have written, that elected people can just do XYZ if the “believe” in it.
Conservative councilors do not want to increase Council Tax in authorities responsible for Adult Social Care and Children’s Services by 4.9% but – Council Tax is increased by 4.9% – and it will be THE SAME under the Reform Party – they will face the same institutional factors (the same “blob”) and Council Tax will still go up by 4.9%. Certainly they will be able to do some things, such as take down Ukrainian flags (which they have done) – but NOT do important things.
Nor was it lack of “belief” that prevented ministers such as Jacob Rees-Mogg doing Conservative things in office – it was lack of POWER.
Even such people as Prime Minister Sunak actually had quite “right wing” beliefs – but their beliefs (what they believed in) did-not-matter.
Till people grasp the institutional mess this nation is in, that power is largely in UNELECTED hands, then nothing good will happen.
I say again – we do not want yet more “Reform” (it was endless administrative reforms that led us into this terrible mess) we need REPEAL.
How did the proposed Great REPEAL Act get changed into a Great “Reform” Act?
Again this reminds me of how the campaign for British Independence – was, somehow, changed into the meaningless “Brexit” thing.
The Acts of Parliament that led to the terrible mess the United Kingdom is in (a mess that is turning into a crises) must be repealed.
Unless there is a mass REPEAL – everything else is a waste of time.
“We can not say independence – because the supporters of the European Union will say we are already an independent country – so we have to say Brexit”.
Anyone who comes out with that threadbare excuse – is an idiot (or worse). If you dare not even say INDEPENDENCE, because supporters of the E.U. are going to tell lies (pretend that a nation can be under the European Union, and independent, at-the-same-time) you are not going to deliver independence – you are going to deliver meaningless “Brexit” with all the same laws and policies as the European Union and the rest of the accursed International Community.
Ditto – if you will not even say “Great Repeal Act” and, instead, waffle about “Reform” – you are not going to repeal the key pieces of legislation such as the Environment Act and the Equality Act.
If you mean Repeal – then say Repeal.
List all the pieces of legislation – and produce a one page Bill to put before Parliament.
“The following Acts of Parliament are repealed – made void” – and then list the pieces of legislation (independence of the Bank of England, OBR, the lot).
Finis.
Never mind ‘Dieu Et Mon Droit’ – the motto on the current British state’s coat-of-arms should be ‘You Can’t Do That’
Zerren Yeoville – sadly so.
This is why we need REPEAL – not “Reform”.
It must be the Great REPEAL Act.
Otherwise it is another bait-and-switch – like when we got, meaningless, “Brexit” rather than Independence.