Nick Clegg wants to know which laws infringe or cramp our freedom. He is inviting us to tell him so they can be repealed. Well, that’s the theory.

A Freedom Bill is to be introduced in Parliament in the Autumn.

His performance in this clip from the Cabinet Office website (also at Youtube) is toe curling.

He tells us the Government is listening. The Government is, apparently, putting us in charge.

This is all completely bogus.

The Government will go as far as it wants to go and no further, thank you.

What, for example, is the Deputy Prime Minister going to tell those people (some in his own Party) who want the Hunting Act repealed on the grounds that it restricts their freedom to kill wild animals for fun?

The Government’s line on hunting is to offer, in due course, a free vote in the Commons.

But is this formulation going to apply to all “freedom issues”?

Are we going to see unwhipped votes where MPs will have the freedom to make up their own minds about freedom issues?

That would be a first.

And then there are the pointless laws and regulations.

I wince when I hear Clegg go for the headline. He tells the Today programme this morning, in that enthusiastic yet earnest way of his, that it is apparently an offence if you don’t report the presence of a grey squirrel in your garden.

I suspect it was probably brought in to protect our old friend the red squirrel. I dunno. If we don’t need it, repeal it.

The Statute Book is and always has been cluttered up with laws that are past their sell-by date. They need constant weeding.

There is a law from 1313 making it an offence to come armed to Parliament.

My question to you, Mr Clegg, Sir, is this: Do we still need it?

See my blog post on what is in the Statute Book.

See the Freedom Bill at Number 10.