Our commitment to civil liberties is one of the most important reasons for our growing appeal to younger voters. Many voters under the age of 40 found legislation such as the Criminal Justice Act and Section 28 repugnant and have been similarly repulsed by the cavalier disregard for civil liberties shown by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Our unswerving commitment to civil liberties and social freedoms since DC has been elected leader have formed a fundamental part of our appeal.
We must not forget this as the election gets closer and the authoritarian screechings of the Daily Mail grow louder. Whether we like it or not, freedoms such as freedom of speech, freedom of movement and freedom of assembly and freedom to protest must be non negotiable. I do hope that recent announcements, such as that about demonstrations on Parliament Square, don’t mean that we are diluting our commitment to civil liberties.
Civil libertarianism is integral to modern, progressive Conservatism. The public are quite rightly sick and tired of the annoying authoritarian approach of New Labour. People rightly view us as the party that stands up for civil liberties. This commitment should not diminish with the demands of an election or the pressures and realities of power. Our commitment to our ancient liberties must be unswerving and non negotiable.
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