Apols if Corn (Law)

Trawling for research on public sector information I came across the Better Regulation Executive's report 'Informing the Public in a multi media age'

The report suggests that all statutory notices local authorities and central government bodis (DVLA/DEFRA) are obliged to produce cost some £15 million in local government alone at an average of £35k. Some London boroughs spend some £110,000 in their local rags to let the readers of the Kilburn Gazette know which pubs are pushing for longer opening hours and why Mr Jones round the corner wants his kitchen extended in his Grade II listed maisonette.

Not good news for local newspaper ad revenues, but on the bright side you can see now departed Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden stream in high resolution

So far, so e-gov, so good. But what did appeal to the old was the following guff about Legislative Reform Orders.

Ministers can now make a Legislative Reform Order (LRO) to remove burdens arising from legislation (Section 1 of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006, LRRA) and make orders to ensure that regulatory functions are exercised in compliance with the Better Regulations Commission’s Five Principles of Good Regulation (Section 2 of the LRRA). The LRO must meet the preconditions set out in section 3 of the Legislative Regulatory Reform Act and cannot deliver highly controversial reforms.

LROs may be highly effective in streamlining recent legislation removing burdensome publication requirements such as, constitutional announcements e.g. the appointment of deputy lieutenants, Corn Law announcements, ecclesiastical announcements and similar less used elements of statute law, which no longer serve a beneficial purpose. Removing administrative burdens in this way will enable
departments that do not have a bill slot available to implement better regulation principles efficiently. Further work is required to identify more specifically those laws suitable for the application of an LRO.

Strewth, haven't they repealed the Corn Laws yet? What do these announcements have to say? Was it all a dream - will Sir Robert Peel awake in a shower in the style of Robert Duff from Dallas? As the popbitch board would have it - apols if corn...