Repealing Uncle Marvo's laws.

"there are now 1,242 pieces of legislation public servants can use to enter homes, including powers to search for unregulated hypnotists, a dancing bear without a permit, bovine semen or a fridge with the wrong energy rating."

And, apparently, (thanks to Al Jahom and the Times) if they win the election the Tories will remove some of those rights of entry, limiting access to private property without a Magistrate's warrant to only the Police or Emergency services, and then only if,

a serious criminal offence or clear threat to public safety was suspected.

The article goes on to say that

[The Tories] will ban state snoopers and clipboard inspectors from entering people's homes on a whim.

We will stand up for people who simply want privacy in their homes and liberty from Labour's snooper state.

And what does Labour have to say about this?

Labour casually forgets that they've made laws giving unelected and unnamed council access to a person's home, if they want, and have casually forgotten that they, Labour, during their 13 long years in office, made 1,242 separate bits of legislation, each one granting one sort of person access to an individual's home in one sort of situation - few of them could ever be called 'emergencies' or a threat to the neighbours - except presumably for the bovine semen, especially if it was still inside a bull.

Labour, in an attempt to belittle the idea, carefully ignores what the Tories have written and, specifically, worries about the gasman,

... there are occasions – for example where a gas fitter needs access to respond to a leak – when such a requirement could cause a catastrophic delay

They really don't get it, do they?

Labour still actually wants every Tom, Dick and Harry to be granted individual rights of entry, and want separate laws for every eventuality they can imagine - forgetting that there's already sensible legislation that covers things like that.

If there is a gas leak the emergency services would be called, and the gas would be turned off at the main - in the road outside. Nobody would ever expect a gas fitter to go into a property where there is a gas leak, it would be both foolhardy and dangerous. Elfin Safety would have a seriously hissy fit.

Whomsever needs access would be granted the right of entry without a warrant - because it is an emergency. If somebody suspected the gang-next-door of making bombs, it would be an emergency and a threat to public safety, so the Police/Fire Brigade would be called, and so on, and so on.

The hint is in the wording and the use of the well-worn word "emergency", and would not, presumably, include Ollie-next-door having a crafty cigarette out of the bathroom window and threatening the neighbourhood with instant death-by-tobacco-fumes. (And yes, people living next to Rigby Towers, the one-that-isn't-called-Ollie does, often - and he's old enough to smoke too, so please, either let him downstairs or send him into the garden. He's too old to be dangling out of windows and stopping everybody else from using the loo!)

Oh, and Mrs Rigby offers this post to Uncle Marvo, and claims a box of chocolates - for mentioning such silly laws as granting automatic right of access to a property to check for :-

"unregulated hypnotists, a dancing bear without a permit, or bovine semen"

Presumably, not all these laws could be broken at the same time, but who, in 2010 Britain, can be sure of anything any more?

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