Lib Dems rebel against leadership on DNA database
Sunday, 20 September 2009 12:00 AM
By Ian Dunt
Delegates at the Lib Dem conference have rejected calls from senior party leaders to allow some innocent people's DNA to be kept on the database after they are acquitted.
A policy motion on the database called for all innocent people to have their DNA removed from the database following acquittal.
But Chris Huhne took to the stage to plead with delegates to leave a clause in the motion which allowed for those accused of serious violent crimes and sexual crimes to have theirs retained for three years - as is the case under Scottish law.
Delegates roundly rejected Mr Huhne's arguments however, and voted to keep the motion as it stood.
The DNA database formed a central part of the party's civil liberties motion, which also included calls for a ban on 'Mosquito alarms', which play an unpleasant noise only audible to teenagers, designed to stop them congregating in certain areas.
The party also voted to ban conditions on pre-charge bail conditions, which Mr Huhne said was being used to stifle legitimate protest.
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