Scottish Human Rights Law Group

The Conservative/Lib Dem coalition today published its full programme for government.  Chapter 3 of the programme, titled Civil Liberties states:

“We will be strong in defence of freedom. The Government believes that the British state has become too authoritarian, and that over the past decade it has abused and eroded fundamental human freedoms and historic civil liberties. We need to restore the rights of individuals in the face of encroaching state power, in keeping with Britain’s tradition of freedom and fairness.

• We will implement a full programme of measures to reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties and roll back state intrusion.

• We will introduce a Freedom Bill.

• We will scrap the ID card scheme, the National Identity register and the ContactPoint database, and halt the next generation of biometric passports.

• We will outlaw the finger-printing of children at school without parental permission.

• We will extend the scope of the Freedom of Information Act to provide greater transparency.

• We will adopt the protections of the Scottish model for the DNA database.

• We will protect historic freedoms through the defence of trial by jury.

• We will restore rights to non-violent protest. • We will review libel laws to protect freedom

of speech.

• We will introduce safeguards against the misuse of anti-terrorism legislation.

• We will further regulate CCTV. • We will end the storage of internet and email

records without good reason.

• We will introduce a new mechanism to prevent the proliferation of unnecessary new criminal offences.

• We will establish a Commission to investigate the creation of a British Bill of Rights that incorporates and builds on all our obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, ensures that these rights continue to be enshrined in British law, and protects and extends British liberties. We will seek to promote a better understanding of the true scope of these obligations and liberties.”

Further items of note within the document are:

Chapter 13 – Europe

“We will amend the 1972 European Communities Act so that any proposed future treaty that transferred areas of power, or competences, would be subject to a referendum on that treaty – a ‘referendum lock’. We will amend the 1972 European Communities Act so that the use of any passerelle would require primary legislation.”

“We will approach forthcoming legislation in the area of criminal justice on a case-by-case basis, with a view to maximising our country’s security, protecting Britain’s civil liberties and preserving the integrity of our criminal justice system. Britain will not participate in the establishment of any European Public Prosecutor.”

Chapter 17 – Immigration

“We will introduce an annual limit on the number of non-EU economic migrants admitted into the UK to live and work. We will consider jointly the mechanism for implementing the limit.

We will end the detention of children for immigration purposes.

We will create a dedicated Border Police Force, as part of a refocused Serious Organised Crime Agency, to enhance national security, improve immigration controls and crack down on the trafficking of people, weapons and drugs. We will work with police forces to strengthen arrangements to deal with serious crime and other cross-boundary policing challenges, and extend collaboration between forces to deliver better value for money.

We support E-borders and will reintroduce exit checks.

We will apply transitional controls as a matter of course in the future for all new EU Member States.

We will introduce new measures to minimise abuse of the immigration system, for example via student routes, and will tackle human trafficking as a priority.

We will explore new ways to improve the current asylum system to speed up the processing of applications.”

Chapter 21 – National Security

“We will urgently review Control Orders, as part of a wider review of counter-terrorist legislation, measures and programmes. We will seek to find a practical way to allow the use of intercept evidence in court.”

“We believe that Britain should be able to deport foreign nationals who threaten our security to countries where there are verifiable guarantees that they will not be tortured. We will seek to extend these guarantees to more countries.”

The full document is available here.