Comment: Will the Lords stand up for civil liberties?
Monday, 6 February 2012 1:12 PM
Peers have a chance to protect civil liberties – but will they follow their conscience?
By Nick Pickles Follow @nickpickles
There are currently a total of 1,242 powers of right of entry to private homes and gardens on the statute books, which range from following a bee to checking for German enemy property. And those exercising them – not police officers or emergency services – do not require a warrant to do so.
Described as a "veritable jungle of law" by a Lords constitution committee report, it was once Conservative policy that anyone exercising these powers should do so on the authority of a warrant. Today an amendment to the protection of freedoms bill proposes to do just that. It would be absurd for the Home Office to block such a change in the law.
Big Brother Watch undertook the first nationwide research into how these powers were administered and discovered 20,000 people who worked in local authorities had the power to enter properties. Not only to they not require a warrant, but they can do so without even a police escort.
The scale of these powers and the urgent need to reform their use won't surprise many people. The debate is not new, and has been a legislative crusade of Lord Selsdon for many years. Today's amendment, tabled by Lord Marlesford, continues that noble campaign.
Cast your mind back a year and the Conservative party's 'Quality of Life Manifesto' had this to say on the issue of non-police officials having the power to enter your home without a warrant: "A Conservative government will cut back the intrusive powers of entry into homes. Public bodies (other than the police and emergency services) will require a magistrates' warrant, and approval for such a warrant will be restricted to tackling serious criminal offences or protecting public safety. Labour plans to give bailiffs powers of forced entry into homes to collect civil debts will be revoked."
As the manifesto pointed out, 587 of the powers of entry, almost half of the total, were introduced by New Labour. Those of us who believe the last government's attitude towards our civil liberties and privacy were not in the spirit of British democratic principles saw the coalition as our best hope for restoring freedom.
It is not too much to ask that, where security or a person's safety is not in danger, an official wishing to enter our home first seeks a warrant to do so. The amendment proposed by Lord Marlesford is a reasonable and proportionate step to protect our civil liberties. Today it falls on the House of Lords to defend those civil liberties, and I hope that the Conservative ministers in the chamber will follow their conscience and not the advice of Home Office officials.
Nick Pickles is director of civil liberties and privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch. A candidate in the 2010 general election, Nick stood against Yvette Cooper, achieving a 12.5% swing to the Conservatives. He is a leading commentator on a wide variety of issues including digital privacy and web-blocking, CCTV, civil liberties and privacy.
The opinions in politics.co.uk's Comment and Analysis section are those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the website or its owners.
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