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What We Have Lost

A report by UCL Student Human Rights Programme

Compiled for the Convention on Modern Liberty

19 February 2009

One of the problems with the erosion of liberty in Britain over the last decade was that the public failed to pay attention to what was ha ppening in Parliament. L aws that fundamentally challenged o ur traditions of rights and liberty and flew in the face of the Human Rights Act ("HRA") were passed with relatively little debate. Few grasped the impact they would have on our society and

Ministers were able to brush aside protests with assurances that their desire to protect us was equal to their respect for civil liberties.

The difficulty campaigners faced was to press home the argument about the scale of the loss. An account was needed to show that the legislative programme, which swept away centuries old rights and transferred so much power from the individual to the state , actually existed. Now we have that evidence and the Convention on Modern Liberty can demonstrate with confidence what Britain has lost and discuss how this crisis of liberty

took root in one of the world’s oldest democracies and what to do about it.