Tag Archives: simon hughes civil liberties

Caron Lindsay

Simon Hughes and Nick Clegg oppose Cameron’s Snoopers’ Charter plans – or do they?

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 13th January 2015 - 12:08 pm

Last night, Liberal Democrat Justice Minister Simon Hughes expressed his opposition to David Cameron’s plans to legislate to give security services the right to intercept the internet communications of suspected terrorists.

He said:

It is vital that the police and intelligence agencies are able to investigate and prosecute terrorists, including surveillance of communications. The Liberal Democrats have moved quickly in Government to plug the gaps in existing legislation to bolster these abilities.

Future security measures must be proportionate, justified and necessary – and not trample on our civil liberties. The so-called Snoopers’ Charter, which would see the internet browsing of every single citizen stored for a year, fails these very reasonable precautions.

The idea that you protect free speech by spying on every law-abiding person in this country is a contradiction in terms. You can’t have an open society if you are constantly worried that the state is prying into your daily life.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 4 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Tim
    Hywel - I doubt Norwegian gas will be lower carbon than Jackdaw. It is the case (as that report showed) that the remnants of old UK gas fields are (slightly) hi...
  • Simon Robinson
    I do think kindness is a good quality, and we need more of it in politics, but attaching 'kindness' to particular policies is more complex than I think you ackn...
  • Peter Davies
    213 votes across 5 seats. Hard to see a positive here....
  • cim
    "And we are witnessing in Britain illiberal movements on the left and the right, with Farage as a pluto-populist (a politician financed by the ultra-wealthy who...
  • Hywel
    @Tim - Yes I saw the source and looked at it though it didn't make a lot of sense given my level of knowledge of this. But taking that as correct I was curio...