A terrible day for British democracy

Today has been a terrible day for British Democracy. Three incidents today show just how much this Labour Government (and to a certain extent the entire political establishment) has been willing to disregard our human rights in recent years.

The first is of course the decision to ban Islam4UK; a completely unjustified decision in my opinion. I have no doubt that somehow; Islam4UK will have links to Al-Qaeda or some affiliated terrorist organisation. Nor am I in any doubt that Anjem Choudary is one of the minority of British Muslims who would be happy to see yet more violence on the streets of Britain. But that does not mean we should make his organisation illegal. National security considerations aside, I do not believe the Home Secretary has provided nearly enough evidence to justify the decision to add Islam4UK to the list of proscribed organisations under the Terrorism Act 2000. Abhorrent and extreme as Islam4UK’s views may be, there should be a place in our democracy for the most radical and for the most extreme on both ends of the spectrum. I do not want to live in a country where any group that steps out of line from the establishment’s view of community cohesion is banned. A bad move indeed on the part of the Home Secretary and shame on the Tory frontbench for supporting him.

In the same category is another decision by the Home Office to keep in place the ban on American talk show host Mike Savage entering Britain. Mr Savage is a very controversial individual whose views are probably as extreme as those of Anjem Choudary, although Savage is accused of being offensive towards Muslims, not calling for the imposition of Sharia law. The issue was raised today in the House of Lords by UKIP leader Lord Pearson. I do not in any way agree with Mr Savage (just as I don’t agree with Islam4UK), indeed if Mr Savage had his way I’d probably be dead, but he has every right to say what he wants to and his conservative beliefs should not prevent him from being admitted in to the UK. The so-called excuse is that Mr Savage’s presence in the UK could cause a violent back-lash, why should we allow those that would bring violence in to our politics to hold freedom of speech in this country to ransom? This is yet another sorry episode in British politics and a victory for those that use the threat of violence to stifle free speech.

The third attack on freedom in Britain today came not from the Home Secretary but in the courts. Legal history was made in England and Wales today as a criminal trial took place without a jury, the first since the abolition of the Star Chamber 350 years ago. In a step back in time that makes a mockery of our calls for human rights on the international stage, an English court-room saw four defendants face trial without a jury – completely shocking. Under provisions introduced by this Labour government, one of the very basic principles of our legal system, that a defendant should be trialled by a jury of his peers, has been eroded. Paul Mendle QC got it exactly right today when he said: “Some principles of justice are beyond price. Trial by your peers is one of them.” A fact this government seems to be ignoring.

We should not accept the slow erosion of basic principles of human rights that have underpinned the constitution of this country for centuries. By accepting these attacks on our civil liberties, we wave the white flag of surrender to the very people the government claims to be stopping. Today has been a truly terrible day.