Along with other civil libertarians I’ve dedicated my time to fighting off Labour’s encroachments on our freedoms and liberty. This struggle has found me working with traditional Labour members, Greens, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives; everyone from anti-corporate Libertarian Socialist to Euro-sceptic UKIP activists. People of all tribal loyalties and ideological outlooks have come together in non-partisan campaigns like NO2ID, and events like the convention on modern liberty. Not because they have sought to make their ideological explanation of why our liberties have been encroached the dominant one, but because they realised achieving a shared goal required finding the common ground and putting aside differences. If such an approach and style of collaborative politics can work on one issue it can surely be applied to others.
The struggle isn’t yet over. The Home Office has contingency plans in place for its identity scheme, and there are entrenched authoritarians that will decry innocent people being removed from the DNA database or giving up powers for random stops and searches. With plans for biometric passports, and a civil service ethos of data-sharing there will be future challenges. Already threats loom on new horizons, for instance The Political Parties and Elections Act allows for the creation of another national population database, and from 2011 onwards, and the Electoral Commission will, “report annually to Parliament on the progress of the voluntary collection of personal identifiers – National Insurance number, signature and date of birth – from electors, to make sure that the conditions are appropriate before any move to compulsory provision of identifiers”.
Supporters of ID cards such as Epstein have already pounced on administrative problems with implementing an ‘antiquated Victorian’ voting system (that has successfully worked for many year with minimal electoral fraud) to extol the virtues of an electronic voting system with compulsory biometric fingerprinting and individual registration.
As much as the new coalition will have to be on its guard for such pitfalls that lie ahead, it can now bring onside the pressure groups, academics and campaigners that came together in events such as the convention on modern liberty to offer guidance and advice. Whatever the dangers, things looks promising for Liberty. Of course we will remain vigilant, eternal vigilance is the price we pay for liberty yet with talk that a ‘Freedom Bill’ or a ‘Great Repeal Bill’ will form part of the program of government, the greatest prize of freedom and liberty seems in reach.