18th July 2010
Theresa May – More Libertarian than Expected?
Mark Hanson
Since the Coalition Government took office there has been a great deal of talk about civil liberties. The appointment of Theresa May as Home Secretary may have come as a disappointment to those hoping that Nick Clegg or another leading Liberal Democrat should have got the post, yet the certain amount of wariness over May’s libertarian credentials seems, in these initial stages, to be partly unfounded.
Henry Porter, a long time apologist for the civil liberty cause, points out that there has to be a degree of acknowledgement that the signs are good.
Yet there is still a need to campaign. The most comprehensive review of anti-terror legislation has been commissioned, and the remit is to be welcomed, covering as it does the Section 44 powers of stop and search, the use of control orders, 28-detention without charge, harassment of photographers, secret evidence and more.
The current reviewer of anti-terror legislation, Lord Carlile, always seemed to favour the “empower the police to the point where no one can step out of line” policy of Labour, and the new administration with its mix of Liberal Democrats and the more liberal-leaning Conservatives gives a grand opportunity to roll back the dangerously encroaching tide. The news that this review will be overseen by the newly appointed Liberal Democrat peer Lord Ken Macdonald QC is highly welcomed, and Macdonald frequently spoke out against the totalitarian policies of New Labour.
Yet in an early test, May announced that she would side-step the 28-day detention issue by renewing the outrageous measure “on a temporary basis”. There is enormous pressure on home secretaries to give ground to the police and the security services. The knee-jerk reactions to heart-breaking new stories of murders of loved ones, atrocities and the seeming lack of justice bring with them renewed calls that it cannot happen again. Pressure must be kept up from the other side. Benjamin Franklin once declared: “They who give up their liberty for security neither deserve nor will receive either of them.”
The intrinsic tendency of all men to do evil as well as good, or what is known as the doctrine of original sin, cannot be cured by draconian laws. The social engineering projects of Labour will not bring people relief from their inner struggles. Yet what can be done is to encourage and empower people to find outlet for their better tendencies. Draconian knee-jerk reactionary laws have the opposite effect.
It is to be welcomed that following the terrible events in Cumbria, where a lone man killed 10 with a gun, that there was not that knee-jerk reaction from the Government.
The signs are promising, yet we cannot let the matter rest. The pressure must continue upon the government, as you can be assured that the insatiable pressures towards totalitarian policies will neither cease to disguise themselves as friends, nor cease to be a strongly compelling argument.
