Does Brown think he's Cromwell?

There's an interesting little exclusive over on Iain's blog about Gordon Brown's airport tax increases. Iain goes into much more detail than I shall, but to summarise it appears that Brown believes he has the legal authority akin to Lord Protector and can simply raise airport duty before the next Budget by decree.

However, the rules state that he must pass a resolution in Parliament to do so. As Parliament has now risen it means that there is no legal requirement for the airlines to collect the extra duty, nor is there any obligation on travellers to do so.

This isn't the first time that the Government has thought it has the power to do things which it can't. People may remember when Blair, in his rapid evening re-shuffle, scrap the office of Lord Chancellor. It was only later that same day that it was pointed out to him that he could not just scrap the position of Lord Chancellor on a whim because it would require amendments to literally hundreds of pieces of legislation first.

Read more from Iain here.