Can New Labour get any worse pt 2 ?

Just spotted this on John McDonnell's website :

Threat of Emergency Powers to be Invoked against Striking Tanker Drivers

I have said all I can on the issue of the 42 days vote in the Commons in an article today on the Guardian's website "Comment is Free." I can't get much angrier at the behaviour of the Prime Minister and the Labour MPs who supported this attack on human rights. But just after the vote on 42 days detention when you thought the assault on people's civil liberties couldn't get worse the Government has briefed the press that it is threatening to invoke emergency powers in the oil tanker drivers' dispute to draft in soldiers to drive the tankers and break the strike. The drivers are members of UNITE.

When the Government introduced the Civil Contingencies Act many of us warned that it would be used against trade unionists and this latest threat from Downing Street confirms the role emergency powers can be used to undermine trade union rights.

Just at a time when there are attempts to achieve a negotiated settlement to the tanker drivers' dispute this inflammatory threat will exacerbate the situation and undermine the potential for resolving the dispute.

If the troops are brought in by the Government the leadership of UNITE will need to consider seriously whether now is the time to call for solidarity action from other union members and other unions no matter what the current law says about the illegality of solidarity action.

Any more posts like this and i'll have to rename this blog grimmerdownsouth :-)

Can New Labour get any worse ?

Well yes.

There has been lots of debate on the 42 days detention without trial vote in the commons last night.
I'll add only a little more .

First off what the fuck when New labour relies on Widdecombe and the DUP to get this through ,when the Tories can appear more 'left' than some Compass and LRC MPs.

Yep, Cruddas, Trickett and it appears some LRC supporting MPs ( I haven't had time to check the names ) are to the right of David Davies !

We are not talking radical leftie principles here, its basic civil liberties and yet in they trooped to prop up New labour when supposedly they believe its dying .

Civil liberties trashed .

But wait, it gets worse, via the F word

But it would never have happened without support from the DUP - according to the Telegraph, he secured this support by promising - among other things - not to end the ban on abortion in Northern Ireland.

Shaun Woodward, the Northern Ireland Secretary, assured the DUP that the Government had no plans to end the ban on abortion in the province. Abortion has never been legal in Northern Ireland, and women and girls seeking a termination often travel to the England for the procedure.

I wonder what they offered the Compass and LRC MPs ?

(Of course we shouldnt be involved in what happens in the North of Ireland, but given we are then its despicable that women's rights are so easily bargained away).

RIPA civil liberties

If you are active trade unionist employed by local/central government and are involved in organising a strike don't be surprised if the state or your employer nose through your phone records.

Because from last Monday, new regulations will allow 800 public bodies to access your landline and mobile phone records. And it is broad and ambiguous that there's the potential for any amount of misuse and abuse to occur.

Minister for Security and Counter-terrorism Tony McNulty argues: "local councils would only have access to data on "a legitimate and proportional basis".

Where are the safeguards to stop a local council sniffing around a trade unionist's phone records as they could argue they have a "legitimate basis" for doing so?

Privacy and civil liberties are becoming a sham in this country 'cos this government is hell bent on exposing your activities to any public servant. The cops and the intelligent services have easy access to your life and now the government have extended to include public servants.

Our lives are already under surveillance and can be thoroughly dissected by tracking whether innocuously by Oyster cards, CCTV, ID databases and so on. Big Brother is indeed increasing his power and control over people. I mean, will it be possible to go to the toilet without the state being privy?

With the strengthening of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), Henry Porter in today's Observer likens it to the Gold Shield Project in China.

But why this over-bearing and control-freakery? Terrorism? Serious crime? Will crackdowns on civil liberties and basic freedoms make us a less of a target for terrorists? Well, what have Japan, New Zealand, Costa Rica and Sweden all have in common? They don't have any troops in Iraq....

And now with the strengthening of the anti-terrorism legislation more potential miscarriages of justice and anyone perceived behaving in a "dodgy way" could be held for 56 days without the usual rights and safeguards.

And tomorrow there's the anti-war demonstration that has not been given permission so there's a likelihood the protesters could be arrested. The state is using a Sessional Order of the House of Commons of the Metropolitan Police Act of 1839 passed to stop the Chartists and still being used in the 21st century to stop demonstrations. Yes, picture the scene of Walter Wolfgang and Tony Benn being dragged off by the cops in this brave new authoritarian world.

They have access to pretty much everything we do and there will be a time when civil liberties will be a thing of the past.