Give Us Back Our Rights!

6.00.00am GMT Fri 6th Mar 2009

Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords protest against the restrictions on demonstrating outside Parliament during the passage of the Serious and Organised Crime Act

The Liberal Democrats have published their Freedom Bill, detailing how the party plans to roll back the authoritarian laws passed by both Labour and Conservative governments which have undermined civil liberties.

The legislation is the first time a major political party has collated all of the laws which have undermined civil liberties into one Bill, so that they can be easily repealed. By axing expensive and ineffective measures that hinder and keep tabs on innocent people, the Bill will help switch efforts to catching the guilty instead.

The 20 measures contained in the draft legislation will:

• Abolish the veto in the Freedom of Information Act that allows ministers to keep information secret

• Scrap the expensive mandatory ID card scheme

• Remove all innocent people from the DNA database, except for those tried for a violent or sexual offence

• Stop councils and others snooping by restricting the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to serious and terrorist offences

• Regulate CCTV to protect privacy following a Royal Commission on the use of cameras

You can view the bill in detail, comment on the draft and sign up to back the campaign at http://freedom.libdems.org.uk