Press Release

Human rights hustings: Caroline Lucas challenges other parties on track record

Parliamentary scrutiny on civil liberties has been 'knowingly undermined'

CAROLINE will tonight debate civil liberties in local hustings - challenging other political parties on their track records.

The prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) for Brighton Pavilion, named MP of the year 2014 for her work with minority communities, has fiercely defended human rights and civil liberties in her first term as MP and will tackle the issue head on with fellow PPCs from across political parties.

The debate – hosted by the Open Rights Group – will cover the Human Rights Act, the blanket retention of data and surveillance, and Freedom of Speech, before opening the floor to the audience for a Q&A.

Last year, Caroline slammed the Coalition for a lack of parliamentary scrutiny on the so-called ‘DRIP’ - data retention and investigatory powers act. Despite it taking months to reach them, MPs were given just a day to debate it. It passed, despite an EU court ruling declaring blanket retention illegal. Caroline backed a cross-party back bench amendment to ensure the Act was reviewed after six months rather than two-and-a-half years, but this was voted out.

Caroline said: “Surveillance has a role to play but it must be proportionate, uphold our civil liberties and be subject to proper procedures. Not only was this a bad law – it was bad law-making.  All three big political parties knowingly undermined EU law, due process and the importance of proper Parliamentary scrutiny. When governments want to undertake large scale infringement of the individual’s right to privacy, by allowing records of all our communications to be kept as a matter of course, we need that scrutiny more than ever.”

She added: “On civil liberties, we've seen parliamentary scrutiny severely undermined and that's gone shamefully unchallenged. That's been hugely undemocratic – it needs to be highlighted, and all parties pressed and held accountable on due process."

Ends

More information about the event is available on the ORG website and here