Audit report highlights 'permanent erosion' of freedoms since 1997
By Michael Savage, Political Correspodent
Friday, 20 February 2009
The full extent of state powers to detain people without charge, cover
up Government errors, hold the DNA of the innocent and share personal
data between public bodies has been revealed in a devastating analysis
of the erosion of civil liberties in Britain over the past decade.
Almost 60 new powers contained in more than 25 Acts of Parliament have
whittled away at freedoms and broken pledges set out in the Human Rights
Act and Magna Carta, according to a new audit of laws introduced since
Labour came to power in 1997. The dossier, compiled by the Convention on
Modern Liberty, criticises police powers to detain terror suspects for
28 days without charge, new stop-and-search powers handed to police
(allowing them to stop people without reason at airports and other
designated areas), and restrictions on the right of peaceful protest.
It is the first time such a picture of the erosion of rights under
Labour has been published. The rise in surveillance in Britain is also
documented, including new laws allowing individuals to be electronically
tagged, and the legal interception of letters, emails and phone calls.
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Control orders, designed to confine terrorist suspects who have not been
found guilty, are also cited. The orders, created under the Prevention
of Terrorism Act in 2005, can include the power of house arrest and
electronic tagging.
"The right to privacy has been eroded, perhaps permanently, by broad
powers to intercept, collect, store and share our private information, "
the dossier states.
The Coroners and Justice Bill, currently going through Parliament, is
accused of seeking to hand the state the power to prevent embarrassing
revelations of Government failure becoming public. Coroners are
currently able to criticise the Government and any of its agencies that
cause a death. But the Bill would hand the state new powers to suspend
inquests, or force them into secret. It would also allow Government
agencies to share personal data.
David Davis, the Conservative MP who resigned as shadow home secretary
and called a by-election to campaign against what he described as the
Government's growing attack on British liberties, said the measures
cited in the report give hundreds of bodies the power to "snoop, spy and
bug" on the public.
"It is a real, serious, systemic problem," Mr Davis said. "I cannot
believe it is happening. It's up to us to make sure it is stopped."
Mr Davis said that he did not regret leaving his post as shadow Home
Secretary to fight the cause "for a second". "We had to put a check on
this process, dribbling away, salami slice by slice," he said. "And if
I'd found a cheaper way of doing it, I would have done it more cheaply."
Henry Porter, one of the organisers of the Convention on Modern Liberty,
said that there was "little doubt that there is a crisis of liberty in
Britain".
"We needed an account to show the legislative programme that swept away
many centuries-old rights and transferred so much power from the
individual to the state actually existed," he said. "We now have that
evidence [and can] oppose what is happening to one of the world's oldest
democracies. "
A spokesman for the Home Office said that CCTV surveillance and the use
of a DNA database were "essential crime-fighting tools".
"The Government has been clear that where surveillance or data
collection will impact on privacy they should only be used where it is
necessary and proportionate, " he said. "The key is to strike the right
balance between privacy, protection and sharing of personal data."
Britain under Labour: The Convention on Modern Liberty's take
"Laws stopping people taking pictures of the police have little to do
with tackling crime"
Moazzem Begg, Former Guantanamo Bay detainee
"We are now the most spied-upon country in the developed world"
Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats
"We have lived under one of the most authoritarian ages in living
memory"
Shami Chakrabarti, Head of Liberty
"This attack on our freedoms under this government threatens us all"
Dominic Grieve, Shadow Justice Secretary
60
New powers in 25 Acts have undermined civil liberties under Labour.
http://www.independ ent.co.uk/ news/uk/politics /revealed- the-full- extent-
of-labours-curbs- on-civil- liberties- 1627054.html
Friday, 20 February 2009
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