Freedom and Liberty

As someone who is registered to vote, my address can be found on the electoral roll. I have not chosen to remove my phone number from the phone book. I have however signed up to both the telephone and mail preference services which has put a stop to those annoying double glazing calls when I am trying to cook a meal and all that junk mail rubbish.

George Orwell said 'Big Brother is watching you' and when the idea of ID cards was launched I did at first think that as someone who feels they have nothing to hide there is no problem. I have a passport, a driving licence, a mobile phone, a bank account and an oyster card. Plenty of people already know who I am and where I am.

This is of course a very simplistic view and the last few years of this Labour government have seen the introduction of large amounts of legislation which threatens to restrain our freedom and erode fundamental civil liberties. There is a growing awareness that this has all gone too far, particularly following the numerous reports of lost personal data.

One man's freedom can of course constrain another's liberty and we can see that the government's efforts to promote freedoms have conversely resulted in very broad constraints on liberty. These constraints also come at a huge financial cost.

The proposed ID card will not only require each British citizen and foreign visitor to pay a proposed fee of 55 for a card to prove they have a right to be in this country but the government now admits the cards will cost at least 6 billion to introduce. This is money which surely could be better used to improve our transport system and provide jobs.

Liberal Democrats have always opposed this scheme and we are now being joined in opposition by other groups such as No2ID.

Taking this opposition further and in a week which saw the gathering of the Convention on Modern Liberty, Liberal Democrats launched their Freedom Bill. This outlines how the party plans to roll back authoritarian legislation and restore fundamental civil liberties.

It includes challenges to the establishment of a National Identity Register and the increased police powers which amongst others, allows the police to impose conditions on demonstrations, even those where they might be an assembly of as few as two people.

A friend of mine recently suffered a minor heart attack. Within days she was receiving phone calls from companies hoping to sell her invalid carriages and stair lifts. It could be argued that had her attack been more serious she might have been glad of the offers but the fact remains that someone had released personal details beyond her address and phone details.