Tag Archives: Protection of Freedoms Bill 2010-11

Tom Brake

Tom Brake MP writes… A landmark achievement in fight for our civil liberties

By Tom Brake | Tue 1st May 2012 - 4:13 pm

Today the Protection of Freedoms Bill became an Act: a landmark for the campaign to roll back Labour’s surveillance state. Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for this piece of legislation, proposing a “Freedom Bill” more than five years ago when Nick Clegg was the party’s Home Affairs Spokesman.

The Act will protect millions of people from unwarranted state intrusion in their private lives, building on some of the things we’ve already achieved like the ending of ID cards and the destruction of the National Identity Register.

I just want to highlight a couple of things that will now happen. …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , , , and | 12 Comments
Tom Brake

Trusted, professional and effective: British policing at its best – Tom Brake MP on the Lib Dems’ new policing paper

By Tom Brake | Tue 28th February 2012 - 3:53 pm

Today we have launched the new Liberal Democrats policing paper: Trusted, professional and effective: British policing at its best.

It is my pleasure to be launching this paper, based upon which a conference motion will be debated by Liberal Democrat Conference in Spring 2012. Along side my Co-Chair Baroness Hamwee and the rest of the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Justice and Equalities Committee we are constantly working to define Liberal Democrat Policy outside the Coalition.

Public confidence in the police has been shaken in recent times: by the riots, by phone hacking, and by the increasing state intrusion into our …

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Nick T

Henry Porter: Why we should believe Nick Clegg when he promises to restore liberties stolen by Labour

By Nick T | Mon 14th February 2011 - 6:53 pm

In yesterday’s Observer, Henry Porter, who has written widely on civil liberties ‘stolen’ by the previous government, talked to Nick Clegg about the government’s recently-announced Protection of Freedoms Bill. As you probably gleaned from the headline, Porter is generally extremely enthusiastic about the Bill, though he takes the deputy prime minister’s advice to “hold the government’s feet to the fire” by listing some additional illiberal measures which he would like to see removed.

Here’s a short excerpt from the piece:

Negotiation over the bill has been long and intense, especially with the Home Office and police over the deletion of innocent people’s

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 19 Comments
Tom Brake

Tom Brake writes: The Freedom Bill is a staging post towards an even freer society

By Tom Brake | Sun 13th February 2011 - 11:17 am

The Freedom Bill is clear evidence of the Liberal Democrats setting the political agenda and making a positive difference to how we live in Britain.

It’s our robust answer to unwelcome and unwarranted intrusions into our everyday lives. It starts the dismantling of an overbearing surveillance state and restores British civil liberties that we used to be able to take for granted.

At the heart of the Bill is a commitment to safeguarding and protecting individuals and national security. What has felt to many like an obsession of the state to monitor our every waking moment is broken down by the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , and | 17 Comments
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