The Tory smash & grab on our Civil Liberties must be stopped.

Speaking today at the Conservative Conference, Theresa May, the Conservative Home Secretary showed why it is important that the Liberal Democrats are in Government. In one of the most savage attacks on civil liberties yet seen, she has proposed a series of measures that she would like to introduce if those “outrageously irresponsible” Liberal Democrats would let her. These include “new banning orders for extremist groups that fall short of the existing laws relating to terrorism” & “new civil powers to target extremists who stay within the law but still spread poisonous hatred”.

The powers May wants to introduce will give the Home Secretary the authority to ban people from using social media, from appearing on radio or TV or from speaking at public meetings if Home Seretary feels that they pose a threat, no proof needed. It is also worth bearing in mind that, to quote from the Tory briefing that accompanied the speech, they would be targeted not just at so-called hate preachers but also those who sought to “disrupt the democratic process” and “undermine democracy”

I don’t need to remind the people of Bassetlaw that the security forces have a long and sordid history of misusing powers given to them to protect the nation from subversives, just think back to the way miners were harassed during the Miners, Strike in the 1980’s because a previous Tory Government thought they were subversive.

Why, you might ask, doesn’t May & her fellow Tories introduce these draconian powers now, why can’t she do it straight away if she thinks them important? In four words, Liberal Democrats in Government. It is the Liberal Democrats that have blocked this attempt to impose restrictions on our Civil Liberties, just as they stopped her previous attempt to introduce the “Snoopers Charter” to monitor our use of the internet. It is the Liberal Democrats that are protecting you freedoms.

May summed up exactly why her vision the powers she wants are not right for Britain. She said “You don’t just get the freedom to live how you choose to live, you have to respect other people’s right to do so too and you have to respect British values and institutions – the rule of law, democracy, equality, free speech and respect for minorities. These are the values that make our country what it is. These are our values. There is no place for extremism here.”

I agree, our freedoms are too precious to be thrown away at the political whim of an authoritarian Tory political hack. Just as there should no place for extremism in Britain, there should be no place these abhorrent powers, extreme in their wide ranging powers they give a Home Secretary, that attack our liberty.

To conclude, I will remind you of assaying of Martin Niemoller,a German Pastor in the years between the World Wars:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me.

You may not be a Communist, a Trade Unionist, a Muslim preacher, a “subversive” but if you do not speak out now, there will be no-one left to speak when they come for you.