Tag Archives: michael wills

Mark Pack

Individual electoral registration: consultation response

By Mark Pack | Wed 5th October 2011 - 7:50 am

Here’s the response I’ve sent to the Electoral Registration Transformation Programme ([email protected]) in response to the consultation on the draft legislation for individual electoral registration, which closes on 14 October. For the background on the benefits of individual electoral registration, see What’s the point of switching to individual electoral registration?

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the draft legislation which has been published to implement individual electoral registration in Great Britain. The publication of a full draft for public consultation is a very welcome improvement on the way …

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Posted in Election law | Also tagged , and | 16 Comments
James Graham

The database state and the true cost of Labour’s free lunches

By James Graham | Mon 23rd March 2009 - 9:55 am

During the Unlock Democracy debate at the Convention on Modern Liberty last month, Justice Minister Michael Wills defended the growth of the database state by arguing:

“We’ve heard a lot of about datasharing today. But that datasharing, that so many here today say is an unacceptable intrusion of privacy by the state, can actually help thousands and thousands of children who are eligible for free school meals but don’t get them at the moment… Look, it’s all very well for you to sit here. You’ve probably all had a hot meal in the last week. One

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Posted in Big mad database and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dems help force Labour data sharing U-turn

By Stephen Tall | Wed 18th March 2009 - 8:54 pm

A big well done to Lib Dem MP Adrian Sanders for what his blog calls his “little victory” in helping to force the Government to drop proposals which would have allowed people’s details to be shared between organisations. The BBC reports:

The Lib Dems said plans for secret inquests in England and Wales were “misguided” and they would continue to oppose any moves which “undermined” the jury system. … They would have allowed ministers to apply for orders to remove data protection restrictions preventing the use of information for secondary purposes in certain circumstances.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw had argued

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 4 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • John B Grout
    Excellent piece, Josh. As for seeking others' thoughts on the pitch, here are mine: Labour and the Greens want to do things for you, the Conservatives and R...
  • David Evans
    It's an interesting article, which gives us more to think about, but when it ends with "Government and politics can strive toward this platform ... giving ind...
  • Neil Sandison
    This one of a series of articles recently published in the Liberal Democrat Voice that defines our social liberal values . Frequently the hot house of Westminst...
  • Pawel Urbanski
    This is the right problem to be working on, and I think the answer may be less about the words than about the moments. In my experience people learn what we sta...
  • Simon Robinson
    It's good to have an MP putting herself forward for this. The manifesto seems a bit vague though. All good thoughts and nothing you can really disagree with, b...