A rhetorical question I know, but any enlightened citizen of the United Kingdom must have found themselves asking this question in the past few months. Whilst I accept that this could have been in relation to the economy, terrorism, the economy or civil liberties, I want to refer to the latter only in this post.
Liberty, the group tasked with fighting for our civil liberties and promoting human rights, recently conducted a ComRes poll in relation to this very issue and as a consequence of changes or proposed changes to the Human Rights Act. The results are not surprising, but perhaps the percentages are.
For example, 95% of those polled said that they believed respect for privacy, family life and the home and the right to a fair trial was either vital or important. Are there any member of parliament reading this poll, because I can see very few actually seeking to protect these areas that have been consistently attacked and eroded by this government? All the Conservative party does is attack Labour policies. However, they have yet to put on record that they would, if successful at the next election, repeal any legislation introduced by the current government that attacks the civil liberties and rights of the ordinary man and woman in the street. This failure to say anything implies that whilst they are now willing to attack the Labour party on every front, they are secretly in support of new, draconian legislation, designed to control the people of this country.
Elsewhere in the poll, 90% of those asked, responded that they believed freedom of speech, protest and association was either vital or important. Once again, this government has introduced legislation or proposals aimed at curtailing this right, or freedom, depending on your perspective. Perhaps the most frightening statistic, is that only 13% of those polled ever remember seeing or reading information from the government about this legislation. We could debate for months to come over whether this is the responsibility of a government intent on hiding draconian legislation within the small print of obscure or ill-described Acts of Parliament, or a failure of the media to highlight these issues. Either way, what is clear, is that that vast majority of the people of this country are not aware of major changes to our civil liberties and human rights on an almost daily basis. What is self-evident however, is that few will be aware until such time as they fall foul with the law.
This poll suggests that the people of this country do not want to see our rights and liberties eroded through draconian legislation. It makes clear that the primary reason there has been no public backlash is the fact that 87% of the population are not even aware of this government’s attack on everything we have held dear for hundreds of years. Legislation that was introduced with the sole aim of protecting us from repressive governments. It also suggests that members of parliament from all sides are either out of touch with the opinions of their constituents or they couldn’t care less, so long as John Lewis is open.
Furthermore, it implies that the opposition parties are either complicit or supportive of new legislation, given for the most part, they are only willing to criticise, rather than make clear statements that they would repeal the acts if they came to power. By contrast, take David Cameron’s statement on Heathrow, he has said if the Conservatives get into government, they will scrap plans for a third runway. Has anyone heard him say anything quite so direct when it comes to our liberty of freedom?
There are Groups and individuals in this country that are attempting to highlight this attack on our freedom, civil liberties and human rights, but it is an uphill struggle. There needs to be more column inches devoted to this topic, more bloggers need to get on board, journalists, with the notable exception of those fromThe Guardian ,need to educate the public about the affeacts of the new legislation and proospective MP’s should consider standing on a civil liberties platform, rather than anti-sleaze. I would also like to see, at the next general election, an influx of Libertarians vying for office, because if nothing else, they would ensure that this topic would be debated in public, at a time when the lectorate is actually listening.
January 17th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
As a straight answer to your basic question: No, I don’t think public opinion counts for much at all with parliament as a whole and this government in particular (except conceivably at election time).
There is nothing the government would rather do than control all of the people all of the time, but the trouble is that the “Human Rights” brigade are seriously tarnished and, the minute they speak, most of us yawn and either change channels, swap newspapers, or just go to bed.
Most of us are so sick of the PC attitudes of such movements and - just like animal rights activists - we might believe in the principles, but we can’t come to terms with the enactment of human rights the way they are applied. Child murderers, rapists, violent criminals, burglars and cheats who rob old ladies and more all seem to benefit from the application of human rights legislation, whilst victims, decent hard working and basically honest citizens are endlessly the losers and often those who are targeted by government and the police - simply because they are “soft” targets.
The trouble is that governments (please note the plural of that) continuously use that apathy to assist them in hiding draconian legislation that has major impact on our national freedom within apparently innocuous and badly designed legislation that, in truth, is very clearly though out and is designed to solely control the general public.
Most politicians know full well that they cannot do much about international organised crime, terrorism and the like, but they can and do use our fear of it in order to push through legislation that none of us in our right minds and not brainwashed by government would accept in a million years.
These people have been chipping away at our civil liberty since Magna Carta and I guess it’s now just about 1984 - 25 years late, but it’s here - thought crimes, endless surveillance and so many other restrictions that are all made “acceptable” by the diet of fear of often largely imagined threats we are fed by government. The IRA never beat the British people who mostl;y insisted on going about their daily lives regardless of possible danger, even if the governments of the time sometimes appeared to be running scared, but we’re now so afraid of a few foreign lunatics and brainwashed into believing that “PC” spells “freedom”, that they can get away with almost anything.
January 20th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
@ CJ: You have made your point extremely well. The British public is renowned for its resilience under pressure, but our government insists on treating us like children and controlling or monitoring our every move. Perhaps they are worried that one day we will bite back?
January 25th, 2009 at 11:27 am
It is a serious worry. Even my own neighbours just shrug their shoulders when the topics of id cards and surveillance come up in conversation. I think that they perhaps feel so “battered” that they dont want to waste any more mental energy trying to fight everything that they hear about, in terms of loss of privacy. I get the feeling that folk just try to insulate themselves from reality and push on with their own little lives, in their own little circles, hoping that “it will all go away”. This goes on until, of course, they are directly affected by some issue that either criminalises them or criminalises a family member.
I have seen this time after time, in many sectors of life. People just plough on, until they are taken to the brink of disaster. Then they wake up, but of course by then its too late. At this time, people’s minds are focused on the financial situation and I’m afraid that this offers an ideal smokescreen for any manipulative government to slide in changes to the law, unnoticed. In all my 50-odd years of life, I believe this is the most underhanded, crafty, manoeuvering government I’ve ever seen.
Do our opinions count? No they don’t. dDefinitely don’t. We can shout all we like and government simply uses earplugs “we hear what you say but we don’t actually listen”. The gulf between people and parliament is huge.
I also wonder why we dont get more output from the Opposition parties on these issues. Maybe they are against the loss of liberties but for whatever reason choose not to make the issue high-profile. For those like me who find politics a hard subject to understand anyway, I can’t add much thought to that one.
January 25th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
@ Chris H: Thanks for your comment. I completely agree with your last statement, the opposition parties appear to be sitting on their hands, failing to act as an opposition and protect our liberties. It is appalling.