But surely getting rid of ridicolous old acts would save some of the tax payer money? no?
As i'm sure there are quite a few people that stick by them and get people into trouble for doing it. Costing money the court system in the end.
OK – what's an example of an old law that's obsolete/ridiculous that people are actually prosecuted under? Are Magistrate's Courts up and down England filled with people being prosecuted for failing to practice archery once a month (or whatever)?
While I accept that the reporting might be out of context, this is just Ross McToss:
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Mr Clegg said there was "lots and lots of old stuff on the statute books that we should get rid of for starters".
"I've just discovered for instance, would you believe it, that there's still an old law in the statute book that says it's an offence if you don't report a grey squirrel in your own back garden," he said.
SFW? What is the point of coming out with this pish as if it were a serious policy that was worth spending government time on?
And all this "cutting red tape" flannel is just rubbish – all of the laws identified (speeding, OH&S, tax) have policy objectives behind them, and whether or not you agree with the objectives, it's not like they are purposeless anachronisms – it's not like there are laws that say you can only fill in customs clearance application forms in Latin, in green ink, on Tuesdays or whatever. Can anyone actually come up with a law that serves no purpose (as opposed to no good purpose)?
If we really wanted to save the courts time, reduce crime, allocate police resources better, raise taxes and cut state expenditure, it's not squirrel-reporting laws that need repealing – it's the prohibition of (and consequently the untaxed sale of) cannabis and the restrictions on medical prescription of heroin.
But of course those are the sorts of policies you have to abandon after years in opposition when you shack up with the Blue Meanies, and you're left with the abolition of policies that appear more often in the Did You Know? column of the paper than in the law reports…