Matt Gallagher, Chorlton's Lib Dem candidate, and I have both signed the following open letter to the Liberal Democrat party President. The letter was written by Cllr Lev Eakins a Lib Dem councillor for Northenden and co-signed by more than 150 fellow party members.
Dear Tim,
We understand that the leaked policy on RIPA Internet surveillance is now being reviewed more thoroughly, rather than rushed into the Queen’s speech. As such we would like you, as our president, to convey the following thoughts to appropriate Liberal Democrat ministers.
The Home Secretary wrote in the Sun on Tuesday that “Only suspected terrorists, paedophiles or serious criminals will be investigated.” This is akin to saying “if you’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve got nothing to worry about.” If the hacking scandal and ongoing Leveson inquiry has taught us anything, it is that argument is demonstrably false.
At first hacking was tolerated by the public when it was only celebrities and politicians who were victims. It was only after it was exposed that private individuals were hacked that there was public outrage. Even the Queen’s own police protection sold information about her to the News of the World. If our head of state cannot be safeguarded from corrupt police officers, what chance has the rest of us got?
This is our fear over these leaked proposals; we believe that extending universal, rather than targeted internet surveillance powers to the police, exposes innocent citizens to corrupt sections of authority. We agree with Julian Huppert MP when he argues that the police should only be allowed to access private internet usage when they have obtained a “named, specific and time-limited warrant” from a judge or minister.
In a February 2011 interview with the Guardian Nick Clegg said: “You should not trust government – full stop. The natural inclination of government is to hoard power and information; to accrue power to itself in the name of the public good.” And later: Clegg says the restoration of liberty is ongoing, and urges campaigners to “hold the government’s feet to the fire”. We are attempting to do just that with this letter.
Surely an important part of our party’s mission is to defend and protect the civil rights of our fellow citizens, and if we fail, our party’s liberal identity will be put at grave risk. We urge our ministers to heed our call – block these illiberal proposals and lead the charge for reform of RIPA to ensure our citizens enjoy the fair, free and open society we seek to build and safeguard.
Kind regards,
1. Cllr Lev Eakins, Manchester City Council
16. Cllr Victor Chamberlain, Manchester City Council
154. Matt Gallagher, Manchester
The full list of signatories is available on Liberal Democrat Voice.
Lib Dem President Tim Farron has today sent this reply to the letter I co-signed yesterday:-
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for the letter, I will raise this directly with Nick and his team.
I think you probably know my views on this matter. As a Liberal I was extremely concerned by the press reports of new surveillance powers potentially to be included in the Queens Speech.
I also agreed very much with Julian Huppert’s article on Lib Dem Voice — there must be no question of the authorities having universal internet surveillance powers.
We are reasonable people and we should be prepared to look at what will now be draft legislation with an open mind, but we should be prepared to put our foot down and pull the plug if we consider the proposals to be illiberal. We must not as Liberal Democrats fall into a position of trying to amend, unpick or apologise for a piece of authoritarian Tory policy.
Over the last couple of years we have made some mistakes, which is OK so long as we learn from them. This is our opportunity to put those lessons into practice. Britain must be more liberal and free as a result of Liberal Democrats in power, not less. The proposals as they were first set out undoubtedly cross a red line, we’ve crossed enough of those already – no more.
Tim Farron MP
President of the Liberal Democrats