An alliance is being formed to campaign for a bill of rights.
An unprecedented alliance, including the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, Charter 88, Justice, Liberty and a host of constitutional reform organisations, is to be formed to campaign for a new bill of rights, amid growing concerns that laws protecting personal liberty are out of date.
The formation of the broadest coalition in history devoted to constitutional change comes at a time when public support for a new bill of rights is at a record level. An ICM poll for the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust finds that 77 per cent of people now agree with the statement, ‘Britain needs a new bill of rights to protect the liberty of the individual’. This compares with 71 per cent in a similar poll in 2000.
My first thoughts are:
A bill of rights is a moot point. We really shouldn’t need one. That it is being proposed shows just how far this egregious government has eroded our liberties and I’m not sure a bill of rights would have prevented them. After all, all they would need to do is bring about a bill that enables them to amend or repeal statutory instruments without recourse to parliament – they could call it the legislative and regulatory reform bill; kind of rolls off the tongue, doncha think? And what makes anyone think that they wouldn’t do that? That this collection of organisations are banding together to make the point heard is evidence of just how far along the road toward tyranny we have come.
Having recently travelled to France on the Eurostar, I am acutely aware of the level of paranoia and consequential jobsworthery that now exists in the name of “safety” or “security” stoked by government ministers for their own political ends. Indeed, less than a century ago, we didn’t even need passports to nip across the channel, now we have to undergo the indignity of searches, x-rays and restrictions on what luggage is acceptable. That we are more likely to die as a consequence of terrorism is the new mantra and the excuse for the clampdown on our freedoms. We have always been at risk from such activities and always will; such is life. Defiance and carrying on as normal, refusing to be cowed, refusing to give up our liberty is the only proper response – apart from catching the buggers and locking them up for a decent length of time…
The coalition, Future Britain, will be formed in February and is to be co-ordinated by academics at the London School of Economics. It will conclude around the next general election, when its supporters believe the issue will become a key electoral battleground.
I would like to think so. However, I am wary of such claims. Libertariansim is still a small, lonely voice in a crowd of contented people who genuinely believe that government is legislating for their own good and that such legislation is benign. These people; that great majority; believe that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. Yes, really. Stupidity is endemic. Recently, I saw my remarks here described by one such buffoon as the ramblings of a drunk in the pub loudly complaining about the world going to rat shit and demanding a return to hanging. That the person concerned was entirely (and demonstrably) wrong in everything he said (the thread in which he said it has since been deleted by the site owners, so I can’t give you a link) merely underlines the scale of the problem. The product of our education system is a populace that believes government is the answer. They cannot comprehend the concept of government being the problem – or even part of the problem.
The Observer article is optimistic, though:
History shows there have been notable successes when it comes to mobilising the public to help frame a new bill of rights. Canada introduced a charter of fundamental human rights in the 1980s while the Northern Ireland Assembly is considering introducing a bill of rights.
Well, here’s hoping they are right and I am wrong.