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February 26, 2005

Prevention of Terrorism Bill debate I

‘They Work For You’ have the whole text of the Prevention of Terrorism Bill debate on 23 February. Some notable passages:

“I suppose that once one has shown contempt for liberty by voting against it in the Lobby, it becomes easier to do it a second time and after that, a third time… . They voted: first, to abolish trial by jury in less serious cases; secondly, to abolish trial by jury in more serious cases; thirdly, to approve an unlawful war; fourthly, to create a gulag at Belmarsh; and fifthly, to lock up innocent people in their homes. It is truly terrifying to imagine what those Members of Parliament will vote for next. I can describe all that only as new Labour’s descent into hell, which is not a place where I want to be… .” Brian Sedgemore (Hackney South & Shoreditch, Labour)

“Let us never forget that the greatest victory that terrorism can have is if it forces us to abandon the very principles of liberty, democracy and the right to justice which we are all seeking to defend against terrorism.” Chris Smith (Islington South & Finsbury, Labour)

“In a hotly contested field, the Bill is one of the worst Government measures that has been produced in my time in the House… . It is reminiscent of the actions of some tottering Belgian coalition Government of the early 1970s, using the threat of terror as an excuse to enact repressive emergency measures that are never removed from the statute book.” Boris Johnson (Henley, Conservative)

“No mature democracy has ever been overthrown by terrorism. The terrorist bosses know that as well as we do. Their aim is not to overthrow our system of government but to provoke responses from us that damage us in the eyes of the people whom they wish to impress. In the case of this country, one of the things that they want to do is get us to abandon our long-standing and honourable claim to be a society that rejects arbitrary imprisonment and rests instead on the demanding and constraining concepts of natural justice and the rule of law.” Frank Dobson (Holborn & St Pancras, Labour)

“If somebody is put into detention without trial by a Minister, we cannot avoid that person being described as a political prisoner.” Malcolm Bruce (Gordon, Liberal Democrat)

“It is almost certainly one of the worst pieces of legislation that any Government have attempted to put through this House for 200 years. It offends against the cardinal and root principle of our democracy—the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary. That principle is not a tributary of democracy, or a bit or part of it. It is what democracy is, and it is fundamental to our system, as it is to all systems of democracy that ultimately derive from revolutions of the people. The constitutional liberties in the US, France and this country are all based on that principle, which was first enunciated by Montesquieu and subsequently taken up by Paine and Jefferson. Their names will resound through the annals of political democracy and liberty when the names of those who are trying to take democracy away from us will be no more than dusty footnotes in the unpleasant history of this era of Parliament.” Robert Marshall-Andrews (Medway, Labour)

www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2005-02-23.333.0&m=1215#g365.0

Posted by Simon Holledge at February 26, 2005 12:10 AM

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» Liberty and Internment from Murky.org
Liberty has a page on house arrest at the moment, with an online petition (to be presented this week). At 5:30pm on thursday, liberty will be holding a vigil in parliament square as the bill goes to the Lords. One... [Read More]

Tracked on March 1, 2005 07:20 AM

Comments

Posted by: Gareth at February 26, 2005 06:48 AM