“Liberal Democrats lead on liberty” – Henry Porter

Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires.

Advert

“Liberal Democrats lead on liberty” – Henry Porter

By Mark Pack | Thu 15th April 2010 - 11:20 am

Follow @markpack

Henry Porter writes in The Guardian:

By far the best undertakings on liberty come in the Liberal Democrat manifesto, which is hardly surprising, given that it has been stalwart in its defence of liberty under all three of its leaders since the last election. Nick Clegg’s attack on Labour’s authoritarian streak is especially welcome and will be significant if there is a hung parliament on May 7, which – astonishingly – is what 32% of voters desire.

The party will introduce a freedom bill, regulate CCTV, reduce local council surveillance, restore the right to protest, protect free speech, offer guarantees to investigative journalism, scrap ID cards, end plans to spy on email and internet connections, scrap ContactPoint, reduce pre-charge detention to 14 days and scrap secret evidence. The Lib Dems go much further than the Tories on the DNA database and offer wholehearted support for the HRA.

On civil liberties, the Lib Dems win hands down. But one important question remains: what on earth prevented the Tories from making similar commitments? Fear or lack of conviction?

You can read the full piece here.

Read more by Mark Pack or more about civil liberties or henry porter.
This entry was posted in News.

Advert

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

Name *

Email *

Website

Comment

Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Most Read

Op-eds

A Federal Britain: 3. Fiscal Federalism and a complete constitutional settlement (Iain Donaldson)
Tom Arms’ World Review (Tom Arms)
Liberal Voice for Women poll doesn’t say what they say it says (Tanya Park)
Alison Suttie writes: Thank you to our volunteers (Alison Suttie)
What’s going on with party strategy? (Caron Lindsay)

Advert

Recent Comments

Gordon Lishman
When I wrote 5.1 in the Constitution, my over-riding intention was to ensure that the mass Party had some rights in relation to overall strategy, which was an i...
Roland
@nick Baird - “ or whether it was just a terrible mistake caused by a lack of attention and professionalism by the officers involved.” I think this is th...
David Murray
Typo: I first joined the Liberal Party in November 1966, almost 60 years ago this year !...
Tristan Ward
Personally I'm with Tim Farron who is quoted in the Politics Home article as saying the Lib Dems ought to be the party for sensible people, or words to that eff...
David Murray
The current 'explainer' and previous editions seem to be obsessed with statistics, rather than being a proactive guide to the way forward. We don't want to foll...