What is an Act of Attainder?

An Act of Attainder is an act of parliament which allows for certain named persons to be found guilty of stated crimes, such as treason, and to be punished in a variety of ways - including the death penalty.  Closely related is the Act of Pains and Penalties which allows for certain named persons to be found guilty of stated crimes, and to be punished in ways which exclude the death penalty.

No Act of Attainder has been passed into law in this country since 1798, although a Bill of Pains and Penalties was passed in the House of Lords in 1820.  It was not debated in the Commons however, and so did not become law.

I noted in my blog entry of the third of April that more than seven percent of the money we pay in taxes to the government is spent on repaying debt - or at least the interest on the said debt.  I repeat that if the national debt were to be eliminated, then the NHS budget could be increased by more than a third.

One simple solution to the problem of our national finances would be for an incoming government to refuse to repay the debts incurred by previous governments.  An act of parliament could be passed which stated that ministers in the previous government were personally liable to meet the repayments.

The one drawback with this scheme is that a government which refused to make repayments on a previous government's debt might find it hard to borrow money.  In fact it would almost certainly find it impossible to borrow money.  Nevertheless a government which managed the national finances sensibly would have little or no reason to borrow any more money.