• What We Stand For
  • Constitutional Affairs
    • Civil Liberties

Civil Liberties

Successive governments obsessed with power have chipped away at our liberty in the name of security. Labour has systematically attacked our hard-won freedoms, often supported by the Conservatives. We are treated like children who need to be checked up on and monitored at every turn. This Government has given up on ordinary people’s rights – like freedom of speech and privacy. They have created more than 4,300 new crimes – one for every day in office.

Under the previous Government over a million innocent people’s DNA was placed on file. Thousands of schools monitor children’s fingerprints, and parents aren’t allowed to stop them. In Government we have put an end to the planned Identity Card scheme.

Liberal Democrats are the only party committed to defending our most important rights. The threat of terrorist attacks must be taken seriously but it does not mean that we should sacrifice our liberty in the name of security. Previous generations died to protect our freedom, and politicians shouldn’t try to take it from us. That doesn’t just mean warm words about British tradition: it means action.

We will introduce a Freedom Bill to restore and protect our most important liberties. We have scrapped expensive and unnecessary ID Cards; removed innocent people from the criminal DNA database; and restored other vital freedoms. We will protect people’s privacy by strengthening data protection laws and stopping unnecessary state intervention in our lives.