- A Freedom or Great Repeal Bill.
- The scrapping of ID card scheme, the National Identity register, the next generation of biometric passports and the Contact Point Database.
- Outlawing the finger-printing of children at school without parental permission.
- The extension of the scope of the Freedom of Information Act to provide greater
transparency.
- Adopting the protections of the Scottish model for the DNA database.
- The protection of historic freedoms through the defence of trial by jury.
- The restoration of rights to non-violent protest.
- The review of libel laws to protect freedom of speech.
- Safeguards against the misuse of anti-terrorism legislation.
- Further regulation of CCTV.
- Ending of storage of internet and email records without good reason.
- A new
mechanism to prevent the proliferation of unnecessary new criminal offences.
Offsite: The voices of liberty have triumphed and Britain is better for it
17th May 2010. See
article from guardian.co.uk by Henry
Porter
One of the great pleasures of last week was hearing Jack Straw speaking on the Today programme in that patient, reasonable way of the true autocrat, and suddenly realising that I never have to pay attention to him again. Nor for a very long time will I
have to listen to Mandelson, Campbell, Clarke, Smith, Reid, Falconer, Blunkett, Woolas or Blears: they're history and the New Labour project to extend state control into so many areas of our lives is incontestably over.
The Queen's speech, now being drafted, will establish a Freedom or Great Repeal bill – the title has not yet been chosen – as a major part of the coalition's legislative programme. All the areas detailed in the agreement between the
Liberal Democrats and Conservatives, such as the abolition of ID cards and the children's database (ContactPoint database??), the further regulation of CCTV and the restoration of right to protest will be in it. Measures that weren't in the published
agreement will reassert the right to silence and protect people against the huge number of new powers of entry into the home allowed by Labour.
Separate from this will be a complete review of terror legislation that
will assess 28-day detention, control orders, section 44 stop and search powers, the harassment of photographers, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, and its amendments, which sanctioned 650 agencies and local authorities to carry out undercover
surveillance operations on, for example, people suspected of making dubious school applications for their children, eel fishermen in Poole harbour, punt operators in Cambridge, depressed police officers and malingering council workers.
...Read full
article
Update: Tell us the laws you want
to get scrapped
Dangerous Pictures...Dangerous Cartoons...Dangerous Prostitution...and many more. Perhaps it would be more efficient to list Labour's laws actually worth keeping. (Repealing betting tax is one that springs to mind).
19th May 2010. Based on
article from telegraph.co.uk
The public will be asked what laws they want ripped up, in far-reaching reforms designed to put back faith in politics , the Deputy Prime Minister will say.
The reordering of power will sweep away Labour legislation and new criminal
offences deemed to have eroded personal freedom.
It will involve the end of the controversial ID cards scheme, the scrapping of universal DNA databases – in which the records of thousands of innocent people have been stored – and restrictions
placed on internet records. The use of CCTV cameras will also be reviewed.
Dubbed the Great Reform Act , the measures will close down the ContactPoint children's database. Set up by Labour last year, it includes detailed information on all
11 million youngsters under 18. In addition, schools will not be able to take a child's fingerprint without parental permission.
In an attempt to protect freedom of speech, ministers will review libel laws, while limits on peaceful protest will be
removed.
Clegg said the Government wanted to establish a fundamental resettlement of the relationship between state and citizen that puts you in charge .
In a speech in London he will say: This Government is going to transform our
politics so the state has far less control over you, and you have far more control over the state. This Government is going to break up concentrations of power and hand power back to people, because that is how we build a society that is fair.
As we tear through the statute book, we'll do something no government ever has: We will ask you which laws you think should go. Because thousands of criminal offences were created under the previous government. Taking people's freedom away didn't make
our streets safe. Obsessive law-making simply makes criminals out of ordinary people. So, we'll get rid of the unnecessary laws – and once they're gone, they won't come back. We will introduce a mechanism to block pointless new criminal offences.
The measures to repeal so-called surveillance state laws will be included in next week's Queen's Speech.
Under the coalition agreement, Clegg and David Cameron said they would end the storage of internet and email regulations and email
records without good reason . This is likely to mean the end of plans for the Government and the security services to intercept and keep emails and text messages.
Update: Vetting and Barring
23rd May 2010. See article from theregister.co.uk
The new government has announced plans to scale back vetting and barring.
It says the vetting and barring scheme, used to check the backgrounds of people working with children and vulnerable adults, will be reviewed to scale it back to
common sense levels .
Update: Queen's Speech
24th May 2010. Based on article from telegraph.co.uk
The Queen's Speech will contain
pledges to introduce 21 bills and other legislation during the next parliamentary year. Here are a few with some relevance to Melon Farmers
Identity Documents Bill (Home Office).
The imminent scrapping of
identity cards and the planned National Identity Register is already being foreshadowed on the Home Office website. This Bill will enact a policy that both coalition partners put forward but the fact it is one of the first three pieces of legislation to
be unveiled is a boost for Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems' civil liberties agenda.
The Great Repeals Bill aka The Freedom Bill (Cabinet Office).
This will enact a raft of reforms described by Nick Clegg last
week as the most radical redistribution of power from the state to the people in 200 years. It will include the scrapping of universal DNA databases and the placing of restrictions on internet records while the use of CCTV cameras will be reviewed, the
ContactPoint children's database will be shut down. Libel laws will be reviewed while limits on peaceful protest will be removed.
Public Bodies Bill. (Cabinet Office)
An assault on quangos is likely to be
a key feature of efforts by the new government to find billions of pounds of efficiency savings across Whitehall. The drive was promised by the Conservatives in opposition but, significantly, has been handed to Nick Clegg and his team at the
Cabinet Office.
Ofcom in particular have been mentioned for scaling down
Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill (Home Office).
The vehicle for making police forces more accountable, including
oversight by what ministers refer to as a directly elected individual . Police must also publish monthly local crime data statistics. This is also likely to include a fresh crackdown on anti-social behaviour and alcohol-related violence.
Any chance that the police can be prevented from abusing laws and harassing photographers, protestors, anti-religious cartoon pamphleters and even street preachers.