Details
- The first full-length, expert critique of New Labour's record on human rights, exposing the failings of our political and legal systems to protect people from the Government's intrusion on their civil liberties
- Presents compelling narratives of the major human rights battles over the last decade - including the Control Order cases, the Belmarsh trial, the Jean Charles de Menezes affair and the G20 protests
- Offers a provocative critique of the Human Rights Act and the record of the UK judiciary in upholding human rights
This provocative book confronts the corrosion of civil liberties under successive New Labour governments since 1997. It argues that the last decade has seen a wholesale failure of constitutional principle and exposed the futility of depending on legal rights to restrict the power of executive government. It considers the steps necessary to prevent the continued decline of political standards, arguing that only through rebalancing political power can civil liberties be adequately protected.
Relying on extensive new research of inaccessible sources, the book examines the major battlegrounds over civil liberties under New Labour, including the growth and abuse of police power, state surveillance and counter-terrorist measures. It unfolds a compelling narrative of the major battles fought before Parliament and in the courts, and attacks the failure of the political and legal systems to offer protection to those suffering abuses of their civil liberty at the hands of an aggressive Executive. In doing so, it offers a definitive account of the struggle for civil liberty in modern Britain, and a controversial argument for the reforms necessary to contain executive power.
Readership: Lawyers, political scientists, academics, policy makers, students and general readers interested in civil liberties, human rights and public law.
Introduction1: The Growth of Police Powers2: Surveillance and the Right to Privacy3: Freedom of Assembly and the Right of Public Protest4: Free Speech and the National Security State5: A Permanent Emergency and the Eclipse of Human Rights6: From Detention - to Control Orders - to Rendition7: Conclusion - Political Power not Legal Rights;
Keith Ewing, Professor of Public Law at King's College London
"...the definitive text on Labour government's attack on liberty and rights..." - Henry Porter, Liberty Central Blog, Guardian.co.uk
"... As a handy catalgoue of the duplicity and chicanery displayed by this administration it is excellent... the book's greatest achievement is to translate often dense legal argument into something slightly more palatable to the general reader..." - Paddy McGuffin, Morning Star
"Britain in 2010 is undoubtedly a much better, informed and relaxed place to live than 13 years ago; one would really need to be a hidebound reactionary not to recognise this. On civil liberties, however, Labour urgently needs to restore its credentials. It could make a start by having a long discussion with Professor Ewing and other critics about finding the right balance between liberties and effective protection against terrorism." - David Winnick, Tribune
"...core content of considerable value...an excellent critique" - Geoffrey Robertson, New Statesman.com
"Keith Ewing has written an excellent and damning indictment of New Labour's record on human rights and the rule of law, marshalling his evidence with ease and great narrative power. It is a real tour de force." - James A. Grant, University of Oxford, The Modern Law Review
"The book more than makes the case for the need for a new approach to civil liberties" - Janel McLean, The Edinburgh Law Review
"...a thought-provoking addition to current debates regarding the best form of protection of human rights in the United Kingdom, and will no doubt add fuel to the fire of those already calling for a reassertion of the supremacy of Parliamentary sovereignty in the face of perceived attacks from "unelected judges" under the Human Rights Act 1998" - Jane Gordon, Public Law
