Ed Miliband’s attempts to woo disaffected Liberal Democrats are unlikely to elicit much of a meaningful response unless he can demonstrate that Labour is a serious and credible alternative to the coalition. Those who backed the Lib Dems at the general election and who have subsequently and rapidly become disillusioned with them need to be offered more than reminders that Labour is the party which didn’t go into government the Conservatives.
In his speech to the recent Fabian Society annual conference, the Labour leader reiterated his view that the war in Iraq was a mistake. That opinion is share by thousands of erstwhile Labour Party members and supporters – many of whom switched to the Lib Dems in 2010. It is a sad fact that the same Government which introduced the first piece of codified human rights legislation in Britain is also remembered for its attacks on civil liberties and personal freedom.
Now the future of the Human Rights Act is uncertain, with the Tory right urging the Prime Minister to do what the Conservatives said they would in their manifesto and replace it with a bill of rights. Left-leaning Lib Dem voters could soon be looking for representation elsewhere if the debate around the future of the Human Rights Act and European law hots up. Labour needs to take the lead in defending hard-won rights and freedoms.
The difficulty for the party is its questionable record on civil liberties following the events of September 11 and then the attacks on the London transport system. Beleaguered Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is using the civil liberties issue to try to bolster his own position and point to something the Lib Dems have actually achieved in office. Since Shadow Home Secretary Ed Balls has conceded that some of the draconian legislation enacted by Labour may have harmed its reputation, this may be one subject on which the party leadership can have some agreement with Nick.
The legislative response to terrorist atrocities, particularly after July 7 2005, is regarded by left-leaning liberals as a knee-jerk one rather than action to protect the public from dangerous extremists. Nearly six years on, as the circumstances and public opinion concerning house arrest and detention without charge change, so must Labour change and move on.
So far, the contribution of the Lib Dems to the coalition is not great. And with Tory frontbenchers speaking out against liberal reforms to immigration control and anti-terrorism legislation, it is not yet clear what the coalition will do on these issues.
With the rise in VAT to 20 per cent, the drastic increase in the cost of university tuition fees to come in December and the scale and ferocity of cuts to public services, just how persuasive is the junior partner in the coalition capable of being? Clegg’s dishonesty about taking the lowest paid “out of tax”, which only really applies to income tax, typifies the spin emanating from the Lib Dem press office.
However, control orders are one area being reviewed by Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, the former director of public prosecutions. Ed Balls has accused David Cameron and Nick Clegg of “playing politics” to appease the Lib Dems, but that does not do Labour many favours.
In fact, the problem with what the Government has got planned for control orders is that nothing very much will change. And since it was the last Labour Government which ordered the review of control orders, Labour now could and should use this to its advantage.
Home Secretary Theresa May has been vocal in opposing changes to current legislation, leaving the two governing parties to cobble together a compromise that amounts to a mild watering down of it. Having promised to scrap control orders altogether, the Lib Dems have not gained much.
The same can be said about their manifesto promise on immigration removal centres. Clegg and his party said they would bring an end to child detention if they got elected. This will not happen until at least May 2011 – a year after the general election – and then it does not equate with what the Lib Dems were saying before they were in government.
Increasingly, we see what a promise from Nick Clegg is worth. Welfare groups have described the proposed reforms as “rebranding detention”. It has been announced that children are to be detained in secure, supervised accommodation.
The legislation limiting personal freedom and the rebalancing of security against civil liberties and basic rights over which Labour presided when it was in power were contrary to the ideals on which the party was founded. Tony Blair’s attempts to hold terrorism suspects for up to 90 days without charge was not about being tough on crime or its causes.
In 2011, Labour’s policy review must include a proper scrutiny of its past as it looks to the future. As public attitudes change, so must Labour in this post-New Labour era.
