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To what extent have Civil Liberties been eroded by Law and Order policies since 1979?

Civil liberty has been a central presumption of our political system in the UK. It has been the right of British citizens to do as they like, as long as the law does not expressly forbid it. This continues to be the case and indeed civil liberties have been confirmed by the incorporation of the ECHR into British law. However, civil liberties have been undermined to a certain extent in previous years through such legislation as, for example, Thatcher's anti-trade union legislation banning trade picketing and Michael Howard's Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, 1994. The enacting of increasingly authoritarian legislation by the Blair government since 1997 has ironically undermined civil liberties during the very period when many thought that the Human Rights Act would grant British Citizens more immediate protection through the courts. Helen Kennedy QC has argued that the civil rights in Britain are being rapidly eroded. The main parties have differing views, the Conservative view, leading to the introduction of such acts such as the Public Order Act of 1994, states that the rights of the wider community to be protected against criminal behaviour and disorder is more important than the rights of an individual. On the other hand, the Liberal view is that individual rights are more important than those of the wider community; for example, the right to freedom of speech and expression takes priority over wider community rights. All governments since 1979 have taken a tough approach to civil liberties, which have been favoured by the tabloid press and public opinion. Michael Howard during the 2005 election almost made civil liberties sound like a dirty idea. The Independent newspaper says that guarding civil liberties is the key issue of the next decade, and during the last election, urged its readers to vote or a Liberal Democrat or Labour MP who would protect civil liberties. The events of September 11th 2001 meant that there were was a spread of fear of terrorism, and the public and political stance moved further towards protection of the public, but at the same time further eroded civil liberties. This, added to the restrictive legislation to asylum and immigration and policies such as ASBOs and curfews, as well as the highly controversial 2005 anti terror legislation has led an administration responsible for the introduction of legislation to protect human rights, being

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