"We are proud of our record on civil liberties," says the Labour manifesto without the slightest hint of irony, "and have taken the DNA profiles of children off the database and tightened the rules around the use of surveillance – but we are still determined to keep our streets safe." That is the only reference to liberties in the document, which otherwise continues the drumbeat about anti-social behaviour, much of which was enabled by the relaxation in the licensing laws.

The manifesto offers scant hope to those who may have believed Gordon Brown's reassurances about his respect for liberty and the constitution, and it makes clear that the party is incapable or unwilling to acknowledge the extent to which it has changed the relationship between the individual and the state for the worse.

But those looking for sweeping redress from the Conservative manifesto will be disappointed by the milk and water commitment to civil liberties. The shadow justice minister Dominic Grieve, good man that he is, has clearly lost the battle to commit his party to an ambitious portmanteau bill that would repeal Labour's attack on liberty. However, it is moderately good news that the party commits itself to rolling back the database state – ID cards, the ContactPoint children's database and the vetting and barring scheme will be scrapped or reduced – curtailing council surveillance powers of local councils, giving more power to the information commissioner, introducing privacy impact assessments on new legislation. The party does not go far enough on changing the law in respect to the DNA database, and most controversially proposes to replace the Human Rights Act with a bill of rights.

By far the best undertakings on liberty come in the Liberal Democrat manifesto, which is hardly surprising, given that it has been stalwart in its defence of liberty under all three of its leaders since the last election. Nick Clegg's attack on Labour's authoritarian streak is especially welcome and will be significant if there is a hung parliament on May 7, which – astonishingly – is what 32% of voters desire.

The party will introduce a freedom bill, regulate CCTV, reduce local council surveillance, restore the right to protest, protect free speech, offer guarantees to investigative journalism, scrap ID cards, end plans to spy on email and internet connections, scrap ContactPoint, reduce pre-charge detention to 14 days and scrap secret evidence. The Lib Dems go much further than the Tories on the DNA database and offer wholehearted support for the HRA.

On civil liberties, the Lib Dems win hands down. But one important question remains: what on earth prevented the Tories from making similar commitments? Fear or lack of conviction?