I'll end Labour's Big Brother state: Cameron vows to scrap intrusive laws





Public access: David Cameron pledged to open up information held by the government

David Cameron will repeal a raft of laws that have eroded civil liberties under plans for the first days of a Conservative government.

The Tory leader yesterday warned Labour has created a 'control state' with sweeping powers to intrude into people's private lives.

Officials now have more than 1,000 reasons to knock on doors and demand to enter homes, he said, making the UK more like a 'foreign dictatorship or bygone age' than a modern democracy.

Mr Cameron also attacked ID cards, blanket stop-andsearch powers, creeping extensions to the national DNA database, extradition abroad without evidence of wrongdoing and the erosion of the right to trial by jury.

The Mail has learned that the Tories will pledge in their election manifesto to bring in a single 'repeal bill' to scrap contentious elements of terrorism and crime legislation.

This is expected to include laws on ID cards, detention without charge, stop and search policing and powers allowing councils to spy on homes and businesses.

In a speech at Imperial College London yesterday, Mr Cameron said: 'Today we are in danger of living in a control state. Almost a million innocent citizens are caught in the web of the biggest DNA database in the world - larger than that of any dictatorship.

'Hundreds of shadowy powers allow officials to force their way past your front door, and soon we will be forced to surrender our fingerprints, eye scans and personal information to intrusive compulsory ID cards.



'Every month over a thousand surveillance operations are carried out, not just by law enforcement agencies but by other public bodies like councils and quangos.

'The tentacles of the state can even rifle through your bins for juicy information.'

Mr Cameron said there were now 'serious questions' about the quality of justice in Britain.

Labour had repeatedly launched moves to remove the role of juries in fraud trials, coroners' inquests and other criminal trials, he said.

He pointed out that Britain now allows extradition to a range of countries that do not have to produce proper evidence that the accused has committed a crime.

He said: 'We will review the operation of the Extradition

Act and the U.S./UK extradition treaty to make sure it is evenhanded and works both ways.'

Mr Cameron promised to change the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to strengthen the right to trial by jury.

He also pledged to change the law that allows councils to snoop over trivial matters. The legislation has given almost 800 public bodies the power to carry out surveillance and intercept communications.

Councils launched nearly 10,000 spying missions last year, even for petty offences such as dog fouling.

The Tory leader said he plans to review Section 44 of the Terrorism Act, which gives the police the power to stop and search anyone on the street.

Officers made more than 120,000 such searches last year - a threefold increase on the year before - yet only 1 per cent led to an arrest, let alone charges or convictions.

Mr Cameron said that the tactic was being so seriously misused that one woman had been stopped for walking on a cycle path.

He added that a Tory government would seek to rebalance the relationship between the individual and the state by opening up information held by the Government.

The latest information on hospital and school league tables and police performance would be published regularly on the internet, he said.

Mr Cameron added: 'A Conservative government would constantly ask two essential questions: Does this action enhance personal freedom, and does it advance political accountability?'

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: 'Mr Cameron's support for the right to a fair trial and the right to privacy is heartening and his plans to scrap ID cards, review snooping powers and remove innocents from the DNA database are to be commended.

'Human rights are universal and inalienable - we must never take them for granted.'



