Tories state their position on control orders…
I have received the following statement from the office of Rt. Hon. David Lidington MP which sets out the Conservative position in relation to control orders and promises a “full review of the whole system of control orders” as well as giving the assurance that the Tories will “send the message that we understand the values we are seeking to defend from those who would violently challenge them outside the democratic sphere”.
Perhaps most significantly it states that the Tories believe “We cannot defend our liberties by sacrificing them” let’s hope that they will stand by this conviction, in power or in opposition, and push for the necessary changes to allow these few ‘dangerous people’ to be dealt with by the criminal justice system rather than continuing the illegal and immoral practice of ‘black bagging’ terror suspects…
“My colleagues and I are very concerned about control orders in their current form. While they do much to undermine our rights and freedoms, they can be ineffective at keeping us safe. If the authorities believe that a suspect poses a serious danger to national security, then a control order is usually a poor substitute for prosecution.
It is deeply worrying that we have reached the situation where the regime is unraveling in the courts and we have nothing to replace it with. My Party has warned the Government many times that control orders are not working and we have urged Ministers to put more effort into finding effective alternatives.
As you have pointed out, my Party has previously abstained on votes regarding control orders. We take issues of national security extremely seriously, and we do not want to see dangerous people released without a system in place to ensure that terror suspects do not pose a risk to the public. We have abstained in previous years because the Government has not proposed any alternatives to control orders beyond letting dangerous people go free. This close to an election, it would be irresponsible for us to vote against the renewal of control orders while the Government still fails to offer alternatives. However, if elected, a Conservative government would launch a full review of the whole system of control orders.
When considering future counter terrorism measures, my Party will send the message that we understand the values we are seeking to defend from those who would violently challenge them outside the democratic sphere. We cannot defend our liberties by sacrificing them.”