RFID, GPS Technology and Electronic Surveillance

UK Deputy Prime Minister: We’ll Roll Back the Big Brother State with ‘Big Bang’ Reforms

Nick Clegg has pledged a "wholesale, big bang" approach to reform British politics and restore civil liberties in his first speech as Deputy Prime Minister.

May 19, 2010

SkyNews - The Liberal Democrat leader was booed by a group of students as he entered the venue for the speech, a college in Islington, north London.

At the start of his address, he said the noisy reception was a "sign of the way things have changed".

Setting out the new coalition Government's plans for political reform, Mr Clegg said it would be "handing power back to the people".

He said the proposals would represent the biggest shake-up of Britain's democracy for nearly 200 years.

The coalition between the Conservatives and Lib Dems intends to change the unelected House of Lords and introduce five-year fixed-term parliaments, he said.

They will also give voters the power to boot out MPs who commit serious wrongdoing.

Mr Clegg said the measures represent a "fundamental resettlement of the relationship between state and citizen" and the most significant change to British democracy since the Great Reform Act of 1832.

"This Government is going to be unlike any other," he said.

"This Government is going to transform our politics so the state has far less control over you, and you have far more control over the state.

"This Government is going to break up concentrations of power and hand power back to people, because that is how we build a society that is fair."

He told the audience: "You know better than I do about how to run your life, your community, the services you use."

Mr Clegg also said the coalition would scrap the ID card scheme and the national identity register to end the "culture of spying" introduced by the previous government.

He promised CCTV and the DNA database will be properly regulated and that internet and email records will not be retained by the authorities without justification.

Unnecessary legislation will be scrapped, the libel laws will be reviewed to better protect freedom of speech, and limits on the rights to peaceful protest will be removed, he said.

"This will be a Government that is proud when British citizens stand up against illegitimate advances of the state, that values debate, that is unafraid of dissent," he said.

Mr Clegg also said changing the electoral system in Westminster was a vital part of reforming politics.

He said he and David Cameron are "very relaxed we may be arguing different cases in that referendum".

However, comments Mr Clegg made in an interview with the Times suggest there may be further differences of opinion among the coalition partners.

The Conservative manifesto pledged to replace the Human Rights Act, but the Deputy Prime Minister told the paper:

"Any government would tamper with it at its peril."

He also said the Government would make the tax system fairer but would not reduce the overall tax burden, which may dismay some Conservatives.

Alan Johnson, the former Home Secretary, accused the coalition of failing to "marry up" their policies after Mr Clegg said he wanted to restrict the DNA database at the same time as Theresa May told police she wanted to beef up their powers.

David Cameron Exposed: Another Empty Agent of “Change”

May 24, 2010

You Tube - Newly selected Prime Minister David Cameron is revealed to be yet another cheap suit for the same empty rhetoric of “change” who apparently didn’t bother to update the flimsy lines he borrowed from Tony Blair and others.