I began supporting and subsequently joined the Liberal Democrats due to the issue of civil liberties. To me it is one of the most important issues in British politics and politics all around the world. The freedom of the individual is quite literally the ‘bread and butter’ for all liberals and Liberal Democrats. It is on that basis that the issue of civil liberties will always be such an important one to anyone who identifies themselves as being a liberal. Liberals have always and will always oppose government authoritarianism that seeks to erode civil liberties. A key example of this liberal tenacity was shown by the Liberal Party member, Clarence Henry Willcock, who in 1950 refused to show his identity card to a police officer. Willcock stated that "I am a Liberal. I am against that sort of thing." (http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/item_single.php?item_id=111&item=history).
Civil liberties are thus at the core of what it is to be liberal. The previous Labour government, tried to enact several proposals that would seriously undermine civil liberties in the name of tackling terrorism and achieving greater security. Labour attempted to revive the ID card scheme that had been so clearly rebuked by liberals such as Willcock. Detention without charge limits were almost increased to 90 days. These detention limits would have been the highest in the Western world and would put Britain in the same league as dictatorships such as those in China and Zimbabwe. The DNA database was created and expanded to such a degree that millions of innocent people were placed on it without being charged of an offence. Children were placed in detention while waiting for extradition from immigration centres. Labour introduced control orders with the ability to have a house detention system for potential terrorist suspects. Finally the Labour administration oversaw the extraordinary rendition of many British terror suspects, who were taken to foreign military bases and quite likely subjected to torture, like the water boarding practised at Guantanamo Bay. It is essential that liberals oppose these extraordinary extensions of state authority and state power that although used in the name of counterterrorism and security often can apply (potentially in all these examples of how Labour eroded civil liberties) to completely innocent law-abiding citizens. The state has no right to impinge upon the individual freedom of innocent citizens. Furthermore by taking such illiberal erosions of civil liberties the government is likely to create a climate of fear and mistrust which further undermines society and the ability of the individual to act freely.
Since coming to power of the Coalition government has overseen the scrapping of identity cards, the reduction of detention without charge to 14 days, restrictions to the DNA database, the ending of child detention and a watering down of control orders to remove components of the control orders that would simulate house arrest. Furthermore we should be hopeful that the Coalition will not repeat the practice of extraordinary rendition that was used during the Labour Party's time in office. Although the Coalition has repealed much of what the Labour Party did to erode civil liberties, there is much more that still needs to be done. The Coalition is still pressing ahead with some policy initiatives that may erode civil liberties. Firstly, 14 days detention without charge may still be increased to 28 days detention without charge in the event of an emergency. It should be the case that 14 days detention without charge remains exactly that and I for one would like to see the government considering whether or not to lower the detention without charge limits even further, to perhaps even as low as seven days. Secondly, although control orders have been rebranded as TPIMs, the Home Secretary still has considerable power to limit the freedom of individuals based on secret evidence. Thirdly, the reformed DNA database still holds information potentially of millions of people and as recently highlighted the DNA of innocence rape suspects who have not been charged will be kept. Liberal Democrats within the Coalition should be careful before supporting any measures that may further erode civil liberties and in the spirit of liberalism shown throughout the decades, seek to limit the authority of the state where it may erode individual freedom.
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