Lib Dems stand up against Labour's police state

11.05.00pm GMT Fri 28th Nov 2008

Opposition MPs locked up; massive database of all your personal details; ContactPoint - a database of all children in the UK; more CCTV cameras than any other country in the western world; and the DNA from millions of innocent adults and children stored on computer. "This is Labour's police state in Britain today," said Chelmsford Liberal Democrat Stephen Robinson, following the arrest of Damian Green MP "and only the Liberal Democrats can be relied upon to stand up for the British people's hard-won freedoms."

Mr Robinson reminded people that the Conservatives had given in on the final hurdle for the identity cards and database (see story 10/04/2006: http://is.gd/9qOu) and, in Government, the Conservatives removed the public interest defence when information is leaked.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg told the BBC that he was "really shocked" by the arrest of Damian Green. He said the arrest was a "mayday warning" for democracy in Britain:

"This is something you might expect from a tin-pot dictatorship, not in a modern democracy."

Given the culture of "extraordinary secrecy" in Whitehall, it was getting harder to hold the government to account and opposition MPs had a constitutional duty to keep "ministers on their toes", he added.

BBC report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7753763.stm

Related Links:

Nick Clegg's article in Daily Telegraph.

Stephen Robinson's ongoing campaign against the database state.