Britannia Radio

• Next
• Previous
• Blog home

liberty central

Is your home safe from the state?

A new bill restricting sweeping government powers of entry is desperately needed to restore the sanctity of our homes

"An Englishman's home is his castle" was a legal principle founded in 1604 after the famous Semayne's case: it gave protection to householders from bailiffs breaking down their doors in pursuit of money and goods. Of course its antiquity meant that Labour ignored the symbolic and practical importance of the tradition and busily set about allowing pretty much any peeping Tom, Dick or Harry to enter your home.

In the Lords last week Lord Selsdon produced the results of years of research into who has power of entry. Introducing a bill that would allow entry only allowed if authorised by the judge or magistrate, he revealed that about 1,200 powers of entry existed in dozens of different acts.

His proposal would limit entry to a maximum of four officials in working hours or between 8am and 1pm on a Saturday. That would certainly tidy up the appalling mess created by Labour's abhorrence of privacy and personal sanctuary. Lord Selsdon, one of 90 hereditary peers, said the problem was that no one knew exactly how many powers of entry there were, and added: "Worse than that, the householder has no idea either. The householder feels more and more insecure. He fears the knock on the door."

The powers of entry bill received backing from every quarter except the government, which in the shape of Lord Brett, unsurprisingly an ID-card zealot representing the Home Office, said the bill amounted to an "inflexible approach". The Tory peer Lord Skelmesdale summarised the feelings of many: "Powers of entry have become so widespread and so draconian over this government's time in office that there has arisen a considerable amount of unease, to put it mildly, both in and outside parliament."

The bill seems unlikely to become law without government support. What needs to happen now is that both Tories and Liberal Democrats commit to legislation in the new parliament that restores the sanctity of an individual's home and makes sure that it can only be breached with the householder's permission, or some proper legal authority. This may seem a small point, but an important piece of protection and a psychological shield were lost when these powers of entry were promiscuously included in so many laws.