11 Jul 2008

Liberty response to Conservative MP David Davis winning the Haltemprice and Howden by-election on a civil liberties platform.

Liberty Director Shami Chakrabarti said:

“Notwithstanding Government absence from the debate, this by-election has kept people talking about civil liberties issues locally and nationally, particularly in the vital weeks between House of Commons and House of Lords debates on extending pre-charge detention limits to 42 days.

At Liberty, we often hear it said that human rights are a box of lawyers' tricks designed to help criminals in court. It was good therefore to see a democratic election fought on civil liberties. Over 15,000 people in a rural seat far from London said rights and freedoms matter to them. To say that any free and fair election is a waste of time and money is rather disrespectful of democracy and the millions of people all over the world still fighting for it.”