Is Blair pushing for police state powers?
May 29, 2007 12:12 PM
Responding to reports that the Government is considering introducing 'stop and question' powers, as well as Tony Blair's comments on civil liberties today, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Clegg MP said:
"Tony Blair and John Reid are clearly determined to leave office in a blaze of headlines. But their increasing determination to go out talking tough will leave a trail of half truths, rushed laws and unhelpful controversy behind.
"Pushing for the powers of a police state is probably the best guarantee for increased radicalism in exactly those communities where we need cooperation to defeat terrorism.
"Equally, breathless finger pointing at the opposition and the judiciary to explain the flawed control order regime is factually illiterate.
"There have been no court cases determining the precise controls imposed in low-level control orders to which the three escapees of last week were subject. As Tony Blair admits today there is no reason why they simply could not have been subject to greater surveillance from the police and intelligence services from the start.
"What we need is less finger pointing, fewer headlines and a more considered approach to the grave threat that faces us all."
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