Guest post: Clegg re-affirms his commitment to Civil Liberties

In a keynote speech at the Political Studies Association/Hansard Society Annual Lecture on Tuesday evening, Nick Clegg spoke of the protection of civil liberties as being one of the core elements of the modern British Constitution.

He outlined in very clear terms that he believes people should not have to put up with unnecessary spying or interference and continued, “no law abiding citizen must ever fear arbitrary intrusion or harassment from the state”. He specifically mentioned ID cards, unregulated CCTV, fingerprinting of children without parent’s consent and the indefinite retention of DNA as “illegitimate intrusions”. He also drew attention to the current reviewing of counter-terrorism legislation.

It is reassuring to hear that the Deputy Prime Minster still has these issues in his top priorities, and this hopefully suggests that the forthcoming Freedom Bill will deliver real changes.

Click here to read the full speech.

By Amy Wevill

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Comments

[IanPJ]

He could start by openly opposing, and then be seen to vote against the Public Bodies (Reform) Bill and the creation of a legal junta.

[Jonathan Bagley]

And he could continue by allowing smoking in private smoking clubs. He probably remembers that this was the most popular request on his ridiculous Freedom website.

[Alex Deane]

Those consultation sites are innately flawed when run like this. The biggest ones (smoking ban, the EU) get ruled out - so what are the prospects for success for anything with FEWER votes?