The Problems

Labour has tried three times in the past seven years to undermine the right to trial by jury. They will try again.

Labour has considerably extended the powers of the state - against the best traditions of British freedoms, liberties and enterprise.

The government say they need some of these powers ‘to defeat terrorism’. Yet most of their measures do not reduce the risk of a terrorist incident in Britain. For example, the Madrid bombings, which killed 200 people, were committed by men with I.D. cards. The proposed I.D. cards will not reduce the risk of terrorism.

Labour has introduced well over 1,000 new crimes in the just 9 years, including for so-called ‘crimes’ like selling in pounds and ounces. This reveals their ‘control freak’ mentality.

In the Civil Contingencies Act, the government gave itself more powers over individuals than Churchill ever had available to him in World War II. The powers we had before that Act were adequate to deal with true emergencies.

The other parties do not have the will to preserve our hard-won freedoms and civil liberties. The 1998 Human Rights Act has been a failure. It has given ordinary people few if any extra rights, and made our laws subject to arbitrary decisions by judges in Strasbourg. The Act has often given extra rights to criminals, other wrong-doers and time-wasters and has hampered the Police in the reasonable exercise of their duties.

Our Solutions

We pledge to:

Restore and protect our constitutional freedoms, which are being removed.

Maintain the precious right to jury trial. Labour has tried three times in the past seven years to undermine the right to trial by jury. They will try again.

Defend - resolutely - free speech and thought, freedom of conscience and belief - except of course where people abuse this right to incite violence, riot or deliberately stir up hatred.

Refuse to introduce Identity Cards, which won’t reduce crime, fraud, terrorism or illegal immigration - but will cost a billions and give the state too much information about our everyday lives.

Repeal the Civil Contingencies Act, which allows the government to assume draconian powers whenever they decide there is a ‘national emergency’. The government has given itself more powers over individuals than Churchill had available to him in World War II. The powers we had before the Act were adequate to deal with true emergencies.

Repeal the government’s Control Orders, which place people under house arrest on mere suspicion. If people are planning terrorist acts or are members of terrorist groups or cells, then they should be prosecuted in the courts - and punished severely if found guilty. But we are not a country that takes away people rights just under suspicion.

Keep habeas corpus - the state must never be allowed to lock people up without bringing them before a Court. We’ll keep the current rules whereby you must normally be brought before a court within 24 hours of being arrested (or a maximum 28 days for murder and terrorist offences) - otherwise you must be released from custody.

Refuse to introduce a new crime of ‘incitement to religious hatred’. Existing powers are adequate to deal with incitement to hatred or violence.

Repeal the Human Rights Act, whilst remaining signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights. - but we will repeal the 1998 Human Right Act, which has caused far more problems than it has solved.

Free ourselves from the E.U. Directive on health and vitamin supplements which stops people being able to buy the health and vitamin supplements they need.

End the nonsense of prosecuting traders for weighing and selling in pound and ounces - and we will not introduce any more forced metrication.

Amend the law on the E.U arrest warrant. We support extradition of British citizens to other countries for crimes known to British law, but cannot agree to British citizens being arrested on a warrant in another country for actions which are not crimes under British law.

Popular Alliance – A Fresh Light On Politics